LaPorte County Drinking Water
Drinking water can be supplied either by public water supplies, (surface water or ground water) or by private wells. According to the 1990 census, 63% of LaPorte County households use water supplied by one of the 26 public water systems.

In Indiana as a whole, 60% of citizens use ground water for drinking, while 40% use surface water. In LaPorte County, 68% of the population uses ground water, or wells, for the source of their water, while 32% of the county population uses surface water from Lake Michigan.

Michigan City, Duneland Beach Association, Long Beach Water Department, and Michiana Shores use Lake Michigan for their water source.

The other 22 systems use ground water, or wells, for their water source. All community public water supplies using ground water are required to develop a Wellhead Protection Plan to protect water quality. Each system must identify the area that provides recharge to the wells (the wellhead protection area), identify potential sources of contamination within this area, and develop a management plan to minimize risk from these sources. Some examples of sources include storage tanks, areas where chemicals are applied to the land, septic systems, landfills, and industrial chemicals. A contingency plan must also be developed to cope with possible emergencies. Community involvement is an important component of this plan. Contact your public water supply, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or Purdue Extension for more information (see “Sources of Information”).

The Safe Drinking Water Act requires that all public water supplies test annually or more for a number of contaminants including:

• volatile organic compounds such as gasoline or solvents
• pesticides and other synthetic organic com- pounds
• lead, nitrate, and other inorganic substances
• microbial contaminants such as bacteria

Information on contaminant levels in public supplies is available from your water supply, or from the LaPorte County Health Department.

Citizens using private water supplies (37% of the population) must make a greater effort to monitor their own well water quality, since no testing on private wells is required, or carried out, by government agencies.