Kaitlin Lange | IndyStar

Robert Scheer, robert.scheer@indystar.com

More than a year after the Riverside Park dam collapsed and Lake Indy's water receded, Citizens Energy Group has a rough plan to protect its water users from future droughts. But the fate of Lake Indy is still uncertain.

Instead of rebuilding the Emrichsville Dam just south of 16th Street on the White River, Citizens plans to build a rock ramp — an option that is less intrusive to wildlife than a standard dam and lets fish pass through. Construction is expected to start in the summer of 2021, and be completed by the end of the year.

Citizens has also narrowed the potential location of the rock ramp to two locations, neither of which would be at the exact site of the Emrichsville Dam, because of the high costs associated with a project at that exact location.

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The first option, just south of the boat ramp in Riverside Park, could cost roughly $7-7.5 million and would restore Lake Indy to its previous water levels, according to Dan Considine, a spokesman for Citizens Energy Group .

The second option, just north of 30th Street, could be around $1 million cheaper but wouldn't restore the lake. Instead it would keep water levels low through Riverside Park and essentially create a lake effect further north.

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Ron Rice, community builder for the Near Northwest, said that second option is less appealing to many residents because they want to see water levels in the park restored to what they were before the dam collapsed. Others in his community are more concerned about the environmental impact of any disruption to the river, regardless of location.

Both options are about three times cheaper than building on the exact site of Emrichsvile Dam would have been.

Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

Ultimately the costs will be included in the company's capital budget, which determines the rates users pay. So a more expensive project could mean more expensive water.

"We have to be very focused on being responsible to our rate payers," Considine said. "We have to build structures that are cost effective."

Rice emphasized that the plans are not final and people can still voice concerns at upcoming meetings.

"The more voices that are heard," Rice said, "the more power we all can have in what's going to be our future for our park."

Citizens will continue to discuss the plans at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at the Arts and Public Spaces Committee Meeting at Municipal Gardens, and at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Northwest Qualify of Life Meeting at Flanner House.

Why Citizens says the rock ramp is needed

In 2018 Citizens opened a water intake to pump water from the White River into the adjacent Central Canal, which flows to the White River Plant.

Months later, the intake was rendered almost useless, after a hole developed in Emrichsville Dam, which allowed White River water to pool into Lake Indy, enabling both the intake to work and people to use the water for recreational purposes.

Both the city and Citizens Energy tried to plug the hole, but weren't successful, and the dam collapsed.

That intake was supposed to create security and function as a back up if anything ever happened to the canal north of 16th Street, such as a hazardous spill or the collapse of the canal bank, which happened in the 1990s.

It also could help during peak water demands or during droughts. Considine points to Indy's 2012 drought, which drew down one of Citizens Energy's two reservoirs to 50%, and led to a ban on watering lawns.

The city made it through, but Citizens wants to be prepared for future scenarios.

"Here in Indianapolis, we plan very carefully," Considine said. "We have to provide 100% reliability. We can't have a day without water."

Some community members have concerns about affecting the natural water flow in general, but Jeff Willman, vice president of water operations called the rock ramp "absolutely essential to ensuring we have water supply."

One thing Considine thinks Indy residents will agree on is using a rock ramp instead of some other type of dam.

"We think the design has a lot of advantages," Considine said. "It certainly has advantages for the fish and other aquatic life in the river, and it doesn’t create that wall in the river that can certainly present dangers to canoers and kayakers."

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White River level drops