Indiana’s most critical isolated wetlands have been stripped of protection for the second time in two years, and the loss of those protections could lead to health hazards for the general public.
Appearing on O’Neill Speaks, the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Janet Duey Professor of Rural Land Policy Christopher Craft warned that House Enrolled Act 1383, which was recently passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed by Governor Eric Holcomb, could put at risk the health of citizens who draw their drinking water from wells.
“We’ve done work in the past on isolated wetlands in agricultural landscapes, and they definitely remove pollutants,” Craft said. “They trap sediment, and they remove nitrogen, especially nitrates, and phosphorus. Nitrate, in particular, is an important pollutant to remove because it’s soluble. It dissolves in water, and it gets into the groundwater. That’s a public health hazard right there. These depressional wetlands can denitrify that nitrate and keep it from going into the groundwater.”
Indiana’s wetlands are grouped into three tiers by the state. Class III wetlands, the highest tier, receive full protection. Class II wetlands have fewer protections, and Class I wetlands have none. Those standards were put in place in 2022, and House Enrolled Act 1383, which goes into effect July 1, will redefine select Class III wetlands as Class II.
“Indiana doesn’t have a lot of wetlands anymore,” Craft said. “Eighty-eight percent, roughly, have been drained and converted to other uses, mostly agriculture. The northern part of the state had enormous acreage of wetlands 170 years ago. There’s a place called Beaver Lake. It’s not a lake. There’s no lake anymore. Other states have a lot of aquatic resources—Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin—and they’re upper Midwest, but they’re a part of this larger landscape. They have more stringent laws to protect (wetlands) because people recognize their value.”
Besides providing habitat for a variety of species and serving as a filter for pollutants, wetlands also sequester carbon from the atmosphere and serve as natural runoff areas to mitigate flooding. Proponents of the law argue that removing protections from certain wetlands will reduce regulations and eliminate red tape associated with building to meet Indiana’s housing needs.
Craft isn’t buying the argument.
“They use the phrase ‘soaring home prices’,” Craft said. “I really think that kind of statement is disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst. Wetlands are not responsible for high house prices. Let’s blame it on supply chain issues, the higher cost of everything today. … It certainly isn’t because the wetlands are being overly protected in Indiana.”
O’Neill Speaks can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast service.
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