Zionsville, Ind. town councilors voted 7-0 on Monday 21 September 2026 to formally oppose any plan to route treated wastewater from the LEAP Innovation District in Lebanon into Zionsville waterways, but the resolution carries no permit authority and the town's leverage over the discharge site ultimately rests with state regulators (Yahoo). The vote, reported on 23 September 2026, puts the town's stance on the record while leaving open how Lebanon Utilities will dispose of the effluent from a district anchored by an Eli Lilly manufacturing plant and a planned Meta data center (Yahoo).
Key takeaways
- Zionsville's seven-member town council passed the anti-discharge resolution unanimously on 21 September 2026 (Yahoo).
- The town has signed no agreement covering LEAP wastewater discharge, council president Jason Plunkett confirmed at the meeting (Yahoo).
- Citizens Energy is contracted to supply Lebanon with "upwards of 25 million gallons of water a day" for the LEAP district (Yahoo).
- Final permit authority for any discharge site sits with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, not with Zionsville (Yahoo).
What happened
Lebanon and the LEAP Innovation District, a Boone County technology park, have spent months working through where to send the treated effluent from a utility-scale water draw that will serve an Eli Lilly manufacturing plant, a planned Meta data center and future park users (Yahoo). Citizens Energy, an Indianapolis-area utility, will provide Lebanon with "upwards of 25 million gallons of water a day," and Lebanon Utilities will treat the wastewater after it is used (Yahoo). A plan to discharge into Eagle Creek Reservoir has been scrapped, according to Lebanon Utilities, and as of June some of the alternative locations under review were in Zionsville (Yahoo).
At the 21 September 2026 meeting, the council passed a resolution asking Lebanon officials "to eliminate any plans or permits that involve the discharge of treated wastewater into Zionsville's waterways" and asking IDEM "to avoid approving any such plans or permits" (Yahoo). Plunkett framed the vote as a clarification for residents: "I think this is a effort to clear the air a little bit. There's been a lot of confusion and misinformation with the public about what Zionsville can and cannot do, what we have and have not done" (Yahoo). Councilor Evan Norris called the vote a "no-brainer," while resident Jeni Jenkins of the Hoosier Environmental Council urged the council to assign staff to track the issue and keep the public informed (Yahoo).
Heather Harris, the attorney who prepared the resolution, told the council that the town has no authority over Lebanon Utilities' discharge plans or the permits attached to them, and that final approval authority rests with IDEM (Yahoo). Mayor John Stehr is in talks with the city of Lebanon and plans to engage in the public comment process if a Zionsville discharge proposal develops (Yahoo). Lebanon Utilities did not immediately respond when asked which sites remain under consideration (Yahoo).
Specification read
The headline flow figure for the LEAP supply program is "upwards of 25 million gallons of water a day," or roughly 95,000 m³/day, all of which becomes treated wastewater requiring a permitted discharge point (Yahoo). For a flow of that order carrying mixed domestic and light-industrial loads — including pharmaceutical manufacturing from the Eli Lilly plant and cooling and process wastewater from a Meta data center — a typical treatment train runs screening and grit removal through primary clarification, then biological treatment (A2O, MBR, MBBR or SBR depending on footprint and effluent targets), followed by tertiary polishing, disinfection and, where surface-water discharge limits are tight, DAF flotation for suspended solids or a ZLD polishing step. The 21 September 2026 vote bears directly on the discharge-permit stage: the council can shape the public record and the public comment file, but the engineering and permit decision sits with IDEM. Engineers evaluating where to route the LEAP effluent should expect influent BOD, COD, total nitrogen and temperature profiles typical of mixed municipal and industrial blends, and they should size equalisation and tertiary capacity around the 95,000 m³/day envelope, not around a smaller domestic-only assumption. For background on zero-liquid-discharge configurations that may surface as alternatives to surface discharge, see the ZLD plant process and buyer's guide; for the narrower site discussion already underway in Lebanon, see the Lebanon leaders site-narrowing update.
FAQ
What flow rate is the LEAP supply program designed for?
Citizens Energy will provide Lebanon with "upwards of 25 million gallons of water a day" for the LEAP district, all of which is treated by Lebanon Utilities before discharge (Yahoo).
Who actually controls the discharge permit?
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management holds final permit authority; Zionsville's role is limited to public comment and political pressure, attorney Heather Harris told the council (Yahoo).
Has Zionsville signed any agreement to accept LEAP wastewater?
No. Council president Jason Plunkett confirmed at the 21 September 2026 meeting that the town "has not entered into any agreements pertaining to the LEAP wastewater discharge" (Yahoo).
What happened to the Eagle Creek Reservoir discharge plan?
That plan has been scrapped, according to Lebanon Utilities, and the utility is now evaluating other sites, some of which were reported in June to be in Zionsville (Yahoo).
