Indiana American Water announces major Northwest Indiana projects and $246 million in statewide water and wastewater system upgrades from 2025 summary

Since 1886, Indiana American Water has been motivated to provide safe, clean, reliable, and affordable water and wastewater services to customers throughout the state. The public utility company has announced its 2025 summary of investments for system improvements, coming out to more than $246 million in water and wastewater system upgrades throughout Indiana.

These infrastructure investments will impact 75 different communities that Indiana American Water serves.

“Delivering safe, clean, and reliable water and wastewater service requires consistent, proactive investment in our systems,” said Barry Suits, president of Indiana American Water. “These investments are focused on strengthening reliability, modernizing aging infrastructure, and minimizing service disruptions for our customers across the state. By continuing to invest in our systems today, we are helping deliver resilient, high-quality service for the communities we serve well into the future.”

Some of the investments include new treatment plants, water mains, booster and lift stations, meters, pumps, fire hydrants, and technology enhancements. 

External Affairs Manager Joel Reuter notes some of the advancements that Indiana American Water has been able to make in recent years.

“Indiana American Water continues to lead water utilities across the state in confronting some of our toughest challenges,” Reuter said. “We were the first utility in Indiana to submit—and receive approval for—a comprehensive lead service line replacement program. We’re also the first in the state to install a PFAS water treatment process in our Charlestown system in southern Indiana.”

While the $246 million in infrastructure investments is a statewide statistic, Indiana American Water has major projects in Northern Indiana as well. Senior Operations Manager of the Northwest Indiana Operations, Justin Mount, illustrates the impact that their team has made with a sodium hypochlorite facility in Gary.

“We have two large projects, one of which is a new Borman Park Disinfection Treatment Facility, which replaced chlorine gas with safer sodium hypochlorite,” Mount said. “That was an $8 million project, so that was a massive investment. We did that for both facilities at Ogden Dunes and our large facility in Borman Park.”

Borman Park, which is located in downtown Gary, is the largest facility and treats 54.5 million gallons of water a day, while the Ogden Dunes facility treats up to 25 million gallons of water a day. These two water treatment plants are essential for Indiana American Water’s delivery to the communities in the region.

“We can deliver nearly 50 million gallons of water every single day from our two water treatment plants,” Mount said. “Once the water comes out through our treatment facilities, we deliver it through over 1,300 miles of main.”

Another project that is near completion for Indiana American Water is a major water main replacement project that will create reinforcement throughout the company’s service area. This is a project that started in 2021 and, according to Mount, is about 95% complete. 

“We’re close to finishing up a $24.5 million water main replacement multi-year project in Gary that reinforced some of the main throughout the system. We also retired about five miles of main that was put into place in the 1900s and replaced it with about 11 miles of main to make it more reliable. Everything that flows out of our Gary treatment facility goes out to the system, so that reinforces our entire service area.”

Last year, Indiana American Water completed an $8.6 million project for a tower in Winfield. “This was a large 1.5-million-gallon water tower to help with stabilized pressure in the southern part of our district,” Mount said.

Indiana American Water’s entire Northwest Indiana system touches Burns Harbor, Chesterton, Gary, Hobart, Merrillville, Portage, Porter, Shorewood Forest, South Haven, Lake Station, Wheeler, and Winfield.  Indiana American Water also sells water to Crown Point, Schererville, Ogden Dunes, New Chicago, and additional communities.

 “Some of these investments are ongoing projects such as our lead service line removal program.  Since we started removing customers’ lead service lines – at no cost to them — we’ve invested well over about $100 million in helping get the lead out of our systems.”

Indiana American Water has also indicated that its Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Program is on track to meet the U.S. EPA’s nationwide goal of removing all lead service lines by 2037, removing an estimated 87,000 lead service lines across its service territories, with a vast majority of those located in Northwest Indiana. According to Reuter, the company is on track and currently over 38% complete. 

Other major statewide projects include a $50 million water treatment plant in Seymour, $27 million water treatment plant in Winchester, and $5.7 million booster station serving Southern Indiana.

The hope for Indiana American Water is that, with these infrastructure investments, its team will continue to provide high-quality services for the communities it serves.

“The idea is that we are looking at this long-term for what best serves our customers,” Mount said. “Every time we invest any dollars, it’s with that long-term vision of impact to make sure we have safe, clean, reliable and affordable drinking water for our customers. We want to make sure our costs are balanced accordingly.”

As for Northwestern Indiana, Mount believes that the ability to bring Lake Michigan water to the communities throughout Northern Indiana inside the basin opens up a chance for economic growth. Lake Michigan provides a great source of supply that is protected under the Great Lakes Compact, which limits diversions outside of the Great Lakes Basin

With 115 employees currently in Northwest Indiana, over 8,000 hydrants to maintain, and 88,000 services that are provided to, Indiana American Water is always busy managing main breaks, valve issues, and hydrant leaks to ensure water safety is available in all of the communities that the company serves. Indiana American Water is looking forward to new opportunities in place for the remainder of the year to help tackle these issues in the best way possible.

“While we’re a state organization operating in multiple communities – over 75 statewide – this is a very local business,” Reuter said. “Customers appreciate knowing that you are making investments in local systems. It’s actually an investment in your community and your future.”

For more information on Indiana American Water, you can visit amwater.com/inaw.