178 [S3E25]: The Lake Monroe Water Fund: Raising Money to Protect Bloomington's Watershed

Today we're talking specifically about a topic that could take several episodes to discuss: the primary source of drinking water in metropolitan Bloomington. The reservoir commonly known as Lake Monroe is the largest body of water inside the state of Indiana. It was the state's idea to put a university in the middle of nowhere in 1818, and the city that grew up around it was always in danger of losing the university to Indianapolis because of the lack of water. We outgrew Lake Griffy, then Lake Lemon. When the Army Corps of Engineers built Lake Monroe 60 years ago, it solved once and for all what had been Bloomington's existential problem since its founding in a place without a ready water supply. 

Our guests today are from the Lake Monroe Water Fund: Michelle Cohen is the executive director; Jane Martin is president of its board. Formed less than five years ago, their primary mission is to raise money for shovel-ready projects that help the lake: related to protecting the forests around it, helping farms run less fertiilizer off into it, and even helping homeowners with septic systems to prevent runoff.