Lake Monroe, with a 276,000 acre watershed, is the sole water source for 128,000 customers in Monroe County and a supplemental source for Brown County. In mid-2017 a small group – including representatives from The Nature Conservancy, City of Bloomington Utilities, Friends of Lake Monroe and others – began meeting to explore the feasibility of forming a Water Fund to connect a funding source with the management and sustainability goals of Lake Monroe.

As a result, the Lake Monroe Water Fund incorporated in 2021 as the 43rd water fund enabled by The Nature Conservancy, the 13th in the US and the first one in Indiana. Our sole purpose is to be a financing source for mitigating threats to the water quality of Lake Monroe from sedimentation, nutrient runoff, and 9,000+ septic systems, many old and poorly maintained. We are uniquely positioned as a water fund that formed proactively, not in response to a crisis, because it costs less to prevent water quality problems than to recover from them!

Progress has been swift on our top three key action areas.  For additional information, see our 2022 Annual Report.

• Forests/Woodlands: Even though 80% of the watershed is forested, steep slopes, minimal vegetation beside streams, and erosion lead to sediment in streams and eventually the lake. We have received grant funding from the Duke Energy Foundation and the Smithville Charitable Foundation to plant 900 native shrubs/trees and 600 willow cuttings in bare streambanks along Clay Lick Creek as a demonstration project at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa in Brown County. Bonus: these plants will attract pollinators and capture carbon!
• Septic: Old fashioned septic systems don’t work well in our soils, and often fail. With 9000+ septic systems in the watershed, that’s a lot of you-know-what! We are self-funding a program, and working in coordination with the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District to assist at least 50 households in the Brown County portion of the watershed with $200 reimbursements for septic tank inspection, riser installation, and pumping.
• Agriculture: Fertilizer, manure, and loose soil from tilling can wash into waterways during heavy rains. We have received grant funding through the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, and will partner with the Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District to offer a free soil test to landowners so they can apply a minimal amount of fertilizer, saving them money and reducing excess nutrients flowing into the lake where they can stimulate algal blooms.