The Indiana Economic Development Corporation recently unveiled a plan to build a 35-mile pipeline that would pump 100 million gallons of water a day from Tippecanoe County to Boone County.
The water would be used to cool the technology expected to go into the planned LEAP Innovation District in Lebanon. I’m not a hydrologist. I am just a historian and part-time columnist. But this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
This sets a dangerous precedent. What if someone wanted to divert water away from Bartholomew County? Why should farmers, residents, and industries from one part of the state sacrifice water to another part? Why is economic growth and development more important in one area than another?
I am all for developing advanced manufacturing and keeping Indiana’s economy at the forefront of technology. But that growth and economic development has to be sustainable.
While we live in an era of technological wonder, it has come at a tremendous environmental cost — especially in terms of water. Last year, Google’s data center in Iowa used 3.3 billion gallons of water to cool its servers. That is just one of 12 data centers Google currently operates in the United States. This is so we can search the web for the latest gossip on celebrities and watch videos of cats playing the piano.
Cryptocurrency also uses a staggering amount of water. The mining of Bitcoin alone uses over a billion gallons of water per day. I would rather use water to make sure that we had something to eat rather than wasting water to argue with a Russian bot on Facebook.
Indiana needs to be extremely careful when deciding how to use our water. Agriculture is part of Indiana’s past and present. It must be part of our future. Our leaders need to ensure Indiana has plenty of clean water.
The diversity of agricultural commodities Indiana produces is amazing. We all know about corn, soybeans and pork. But this state can grow almost anything, including cucumbers, wheat, turkeys, grapes, hemp, tobacco, and tomatoes.
Indiana has already paid a terrible environmental price for industries that are long gone or in economic decline. The state has done some amazing work to repair the damage done to its landscape in the southwest corner of the state due to mining. In the northwest part of Indiana, in the area known as “The Region,” the state is still trying to recover from the environmental damage done by the steel industry.
The United States’ ascension to a superpower is largely due to its unparalleled agricultural production in the late 19th century. Our economic power is a result of geography and water. The abundance of water and lush fields in the Mississippi River basin provided millions of acres of tillable lands. After harvesting their crops, farmers could ship their products through New Orleans and Chicago to markets all over the world.
In the West, we have seen the results of water mismanagement. Agriculture, industry, and population growth have taken their toll. The Colorado River is almost dry by the time it reaches Mexico. This misuse of water in California and the far West is unsustainable.
In the not-too-distant future, global warming and the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer means that farming and ranching in California and the west may no longer be tenable. Then Indiana farmland will be even more valuable. And we will need clean water to keep Indiana growing the world’s food supply.
That is, if we want something to eat.
Aaron Miller is one of The Republic’s community columnists and all opinions expressed are those of the writer. He has a doctorate in history and is an associate professor of history at Ivy Tech Community College-Columbus. Send comments to [email protected].
