Cicero’s Growth Stymied Back Lack Of Available Water

Source: WISH-TV / other

CICERO, Ind. — Cicero wants to grow like the rest of Hamilton County is, but they have been stymied by a lack of access to water.

Town leaders say they have more people looking to live in their town, but they are now required to find a second source of water since their current water sources are not enough to keep up with the growth the town is seeing.

Many may think that since Cicero is situated right on Morse Reservoir they can just tap into that water.

“The reality is that water belongs to Indianapolis, that water feeds Geist, that water feeds Indianapolis,” said town council President Chad Blueher on WISH-TV. “At time of drought, Morse goes down. That has been handled by Citizens Water ever since it was built.”

On top of that, even if they could tapping to Morse, the town’s water treatment plant is not geared toward treating surface water. That means Cicero has to find a new aquifer in the ground.

“They have struggled to find water and they have drilled several times and they just haven’t had any success yet,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt. “We are monitoring the aquifers right now to get a better understanding of what we can do for conservation measures and also make sure our future growth can be attained well.”

The recent wet weather though has made drilling efforts difficult.