Indiana American Water

Indiana American Water’s 1.3 million residential customers can expect to pay about an extra $2.41 per month if the state approves a rate increase. But that’s less than half as much as the utility originally requested. 

Indiana American Water has a warning for Hoosiers this Fourth of July as they set off – and clean up – their pyrotechnic displays.

Fireworks contain a chemical called perchlorate. It’s also found in rocket fuels, explosives, and some fertilizer. At high levels, the chemical in drinking water can create problems with the human thyroid gland, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Indiana American Water serves a million Hoosiers. Company spokesman Joe Loughmiller says there’s a few ways Hoosiers can lessen the threat fireworks pose to the state’s water sources.

Lake Station, Indiana, is treading water.

“We have no money whatsoever in this city,” says Bill Carrol, who manages the Ace Hardware in town.

Lake Station’s operating budget is $2 million overdrawn. Because of the city’s debt, the state is forcing budget cuts. So, Lake Station is considering selling its drinking water utility to a private company, Indiana American Water.

Since he was unopposed in Tuesday’s election, West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis has had the luxury of spending the last several months working more on the State Street redesign than running for office.

On this week’s Ask The Mayor, we ask about a couple tangential issues – whether now is the right time for the city to get its own water utility and whether the failure of a plan to secure regional planning dollars hurts the city as it gets set to pay what could be a $50 million bill for the project.

A couple weeks ago, when Indiana American Water Company announced its water needed treatment for possible contamination, it wasn’t just the water that started boiling – so, too did West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis’s blood.

On this week’s Ask The Mayor program, we chat with Mayor Dennis about whether the anger about not being able to control such situations might lead to the city controlling its own utilities.

We talk infrastructure on this week's show – there’s more than enough road construction to go around.