NEW CASTLE — Ask anyone when they last say flooding along Ind. 3, and chances are it will be difficult for them to remember

The Big Blue River Conservancy District, which is 35 years old this year, is the reason the Big Blue River Valley doesn't flood the way it used to.

"That's probably what encouraged all of the development along Ind. 3." said Sheldon Dynes, a civil engineer for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Dynes was the project engineer for the nine dams the district built since it was created in 1965, under the Indiana Conservation Act.

Under the original plan, approved by Henry Circuit Court, the district was established for flood control and sediment storage, low water flow augmentation to aid sewage treatment, recreation and public water supply.

Jan Crider, district contracting officer and manager of the district's Westwood Park, said such developments as Wal-Mart and the shopping complex where Ames is located probably would never have been considered without the flood control the dams provide.

"We're not saying you'll never see out-of-bank flow," Crider said. "But if you do see it, keep in mind that if these [dams] weren't in place, it would probably be twice as bad."

The Big Blue River Watershed includes about 195 square miles in Henry County and a small portion of northern Rush County. It is a special taxing entity with a five-member board of directors elected by residents within the district.

The watershed is defined by areas that drain into the Big Blue River upstream from a point at the Hancock-Rush County line.

Dynes said the dams controlled about 57 percent of the drainage area around New Castle.

"We certainly don't have 100 percent of it under control, but we control a lot of it," Dynes said.

Crider is proud of the work done to maintain the district's dams. Only 28 of the structures classified as "high hazard" dams in the state have received state inspection ratings of good, acceptable or satisfactory, Crider said. And four of those dams are in the district.

Of those 28, only 16 high hazard dams — including the four in the district, structures 7A, 18, 19 and 20 [see map on Page 4A for dam locations] — have emergency action plans in place for evacuation in the event of a failure. According to the Associated Press, a high hazard dam earns that classification if engineers determine a failure would cause loss of life and property. In the failure of a significant hazard dam, safety experts say losses would likely be limited to property.

Dynes has worked with other conservancy districts in the state, so he knows about a lot of them.

"Big Blue, by far, does the best job of maintenance of any district in the state," Dynes said.

George Crosby, head of dam safety for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, agreed.

"They are one of the best conservancy districts in dealing with their dams," Crosby said.

The state, by statute, is supposed to inspect dams every 2 years. But with about 1,200 dams in the state and limited personnel to do the inspections, biennial inspections are not always possible, Crosby said.

That why maintenance is so important, Crosby said.

"I know Mr. Crider definitely has a commitment to dam safety in the district," he said. "That a real encouragement to the state."

The district build its last dam — structure 19 — in 1995. Structure 20 was the district's largest project. The district sold structure 20 to the state when it was finished, and it became Summit Lake State Park.

All of the dams except Summit Lake and Westwood Lake (structure 23), which are used for recreation and could be used as a public water supply, are single-purpose, flood-control sediment storage structures.

Dynes said many people probably weren't aware structures 13 and 20 were available as a public water supply.

"If the aquifer became contaminated, you would still have above-ground reserves there," Dynes said.

Two additional dams, structures 5 and 11B, were in the district's original plan. But in 1995, the district realized those two probably wouldn't be built.

Local dollars pay for land acquisition to build the single-purpose flood-control dams. But the Natural Resources Conservation Service paid 100 percent of the construction cost.

In 1995, according to Crider, "the federal government said, 'we don't have the money' to build structures 5 and 11B."

"They're not being deleted," he said. "They're just on hold indefinitely because we cannot step in and cover the federal share of the construction cost."

Dynes said the federal government's emphasis had gone away from those projects.

"There were so many [environmental] issues about whether it was good or bad to build a dam, that we're pretty much out of that business anymore."

Dynes believes the funding cutoff was a bad idea.

"We've still got some good projects that would do a lot of good," he said.

Even if the last two dams are never built, Crider said, "we're still providing benefits."

Besides maintaining the dams, the district also is responsible for maintaining the increasingly popular Westwood Park. The district also continuously cleans out 33 miles of the river, plus Buck Creek and Three-Mile Creek.

"District projects have been and will continue to be beneficial" to area residents, Crider said.