The Water Rights & Use Section consists of four permanent staff assisted by two or three part-time employees. The section has several responsibilities:
- Investigating domestic well failures caused by high-capacity pumping, and enforcing Indiana’s ground water rights and surface water rights laws
- Monitoring ground water levels throughout the state
- Maintaining the registry of significant water withdrawal facilities (SWWFs) and reported annual water use data
- Administering the sale of water from state-financed reservoirs
- Processing water well records and maintaining the online water well record database
- Licensing and continuing education of water well drillers and pump installers
- Administering Indiana’s implementation of the Great Lakes Compact
Other sections in the Division of Water, especially Technical Services and Resource Assessment, call on the Water Rights & Use Section for assistance. Typical projects include monitoring and analyzing pumping tests, preparing computer models of aquifers, evaluating effects of high-capacity wells on local domestic wells, and preparing text for reports on Indiana's ground water resources.
The Water Rights & Use Section maintains the digital database of water well records received from well drillers, as well as files of the original paper records. Information on water wells and geological formations is available to the public as raw data and as ground water availability estimates. Every year the section processes 10,000 to 12,000 new water well records and responds to approximately 2,500 requests for information.
The well record database can be viewed and searched on the Internet, allowing hundreds of customers to find well information quickly and inexpensively.
Contact the DOW Water Rights & Use Section at:
402 W. Washington Street, Room W264
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2641
Toll Free 877-928-3755
Local 317-232-4160
Fax 317-233-4579
