Ball State finds holes - literally - in proposed Mounds Lake reservoir plan

The Ball State "peer reviews" of the recent feasibility study of the proposed reservoir — which includes a plan to dam White River in Anderson, creating a seven-mile long lake reaching to Yorktown — are damning.

Among the problems found by Ball State professors and experts: A "clear lack of understanding" about the geological issues that would be involved in such a huge undertaking, including the possibility of underlying karst — limestone dissolution including sinkholes and caves — that could "contribute to additional below-dam seepage and cost overruns."

Rob Sparks of the Corporation for Economic Development, the entity behind the Mounds Lake plan, said Sunday it was no surprise that critics could find questions yet to be answered in the project as it stands now.

"We would totally agree, much more work will need to be done in order to know if Mounds Lake can be built," Sparks told The Star Press Sunday. "After all, we are just in feasibility. The technical and scientific approach of the BSU peer paper notes many areas. Most would not be addressed fully until the Phase III design work of this project."