INDIANAPOLIS | The state plans to replace a traditional sewage treatment plant at Indiana Dunes State Park with a new facility that lets nature do most of the work.
Engineers are designing a new system that will use wetlands to filter the up to 40,000 gallons a day of wastewater the park treats during busy summer months.
"They're supposed to be very, very efficient," Brandt Beaughman, property manager for the park, said of the new system. "It's a natural process that takes care of it."
A structure similar to a septic tank will be used to break down solids while the wastewater will be released into a leach field of native plants. The wetlands will be located in the same area as the current treatment plant, on the western edge of the park, about 250 yards from the Lake Michigan shore.
Beaughman, who works for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the current plant is about four decades old and has become too costly to maintain. The state considered hooking into Chesterton's municipal treatment system.
"We would have liked to have gotten out of the business altogether, but they sheer cost of hooking into municipal made that prohibitive," Beaughman said. "Operating budgets being what they are, it would be hard to absorb any new (monthly) utility cost right now."
State legislators last year approved $1.4 million for the wastewater project. The State Budget Committee, a House-Senate oversight panel, voted 5-0 Friday to release the funding.
"The Indiana Dunes State Park is a national treasure that attracts visitors from far and wide," said state Sen. Frank Mrvan, a Hammond Democrat who serves on the budget panel. "Our state parks are some of the finest in the country, and I'm pleased that the General Assembly continues to approve funding to maintain them. It's money well spent."
Beaughman said engineering work will begin immediately and the wastewater project should be complete sometime next year.
The State Budget Committee also released $1.8 million for general repairs to all 33 of the Indiana's state parks and wildlife areas.
