Some farmers in western St. Joseph County are sounding alarms about Amazon’s plans to dewater part of their data center site near New Carlisle to build their next set of buildings.
Amazon is asking the county’s permission to pump 35 million gallons of water a day from the aquifer for 546 days, so they can build the foundations for the next set of data shells in the massive $11 billion project.
On Tuesday at least 50 concerned residents attended the drainage board meeting to learn more and voice their concerns. The board decided to indefinitely table the request.
Amazon would dump the extracted groundwater into the Niespodziany (NESS puh JOHN ee) Ditch, which drains into the Kankakee River.
Farmer Steve Matthys says much of the land along the ditch is low-lying, so he’s worried about flooding.
“35 million gallons extra a day is a lot of water to put through any ditch system, especially the Niespodziany, which is just a smaller ditch that goes into the Kankakee River," Matthys says. "The Niespodziany is not made to handle 35 million but the waters of the Kankakee don’t need an extra 35 million gallons a day put into it either. It’s a lot of water.”
Amazon can’t start the dewatering until it gets the board’s approval. The board next meets April 5.
