IN GENERAL

Indianapolis-Marion County Revised Code tit. II, ch. 341, art. I

in effect

Indianapolis-Marion County Revised Code § 341-101 Definitions.

Sec. 341-101. - Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them: Boat shall mean any and every instrumentality or device in or by means of which any person or property may be transported upon any waterway. Director shall mean the director of the department of parks and recreation. Lake Indy shall mean that portion of White River along the course between 16th Street and 38th Street. Motor shall mean any motor or engine using as power either electricity, steam, gas, gasoline, oil, alcohol or energy of any other sort. Motorboat shall mean every boat propelled by a motor or engine using as power either electricity, steam, gas, gasoline, oil, alcohol or energy of any other sort or source. Owner shall mean any person who owns any boat. Permit shall mean the certificate of permission issued by the department of parks and recreation, or by any other department having jurisdiction of the activity for which permission is sought. Stream shall mean and include all channels and courses of flowing rivers or creeks. Waterway shall mean and include not only all streams, but every kind or body of water, either natural or artificial. (Code 1975, § 7-1)

Indianapolis-Marion County Revised Code § 341-102 Obstruction of waterways prohibited; exception for bridge structures.

Sec. 341-102. - Obstruction of waterways prohibited; exception for bridge structures. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, without authority therefor from the city, to place or cause to be placed in the bed or on the banks of any stream or waterway within the city's jurisdiction any post, pile, dam, masonry or structure, or dump therein anything whatever causing a material obstruction of such stream or waterway. If so placed by any person, he shall promptly remove such obstruction upon a written notice and order to do so by the city or by any other public authority. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the board of public works, with the approval of the department of metropolitan development, may authorize stone abutments to be placed on the banks of any stream or waterway in such a manner as not to contract or lessen the width of the waterway, for the erection of a highway bridge or other public purpose. Any such abutments, so authorized, shall be built under the direction and subject to the approval of the director of public works. The board of parks and recreation may also erect bridges and control waterways in parks at any place under its jurisdiction, all as authorized by this Code or by statute. (Code 1975, § 7-2; G.O. 15, 2001, § 10)

Indianapolis-Marion County Revised Code § 341-103 Dredging operations.

Sec. 341-103. - Dredging operations. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to dredge or excavate for sand or gravel in any stream within the city within one thousand (1,000) feet of any bridge, viaduct or aqueduct. (b) Any person, so authorized, who shall remove any dirt, sand or gravel from the bed of any stream within the city in quantities sufficient to cause a depression or hole of two (2) feet or more in depth in the bed of such stream, shall immediately place or cause to be placed, and thereafter to be maintained, warning signs suspended above the surface at either end of the depression at points not nearer than ten (10) feet, nor farther than twenty-five (25) feet, from the edges of such depression at both the upstream and downstream ends thereof, which signs shall be securely fastened to wires or other permanent supports secured upon the banks and placed so as to hang over and be not nearer than two (2) feet nor more than four (4) feet from the surface of the water. The signs shall be not less than fifteen (15) inches in width and three (3) feet in length, with letters not less than twelve (12) inches in height and of proportionate width, reading: "Danger, deep water." (c) No person, not so authorized by the city, shall deface, mutilate, remove or destroy any warning sign placed pursuant to subsection (b), nor shall any person cut, remove, destroy or interfere with the supports or supporting devices thereof so as to weaken or affect the hanging of the sign. If any such sign is removed by any person other than the person placing it, as required, the city shall replace such sign, but the person so obligated shall continue to maintain it. (Code 1975, § 7-3)

Indianapolis-Marion County Revised Code § 341-104 Pollution of waterways.

Sec. 341-104. - Pollution of waterways. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to throw, cast, deposit, place, pour or dump any earth, stone, impure liquids, chemicals, waste, trash, rubbish, garbage, refuse, filth, offal, vegetable matter, straw, paper, scraps, strands of wire, iron, tin, boards or pieces of lumber, metal hoops, cans, cloth, rags, tacks, nails, glass, or any mixture or combination thereof, or the contents of any vault, privy, cesspool, septic tank or other receptacle for fecal or refuse matter, or any other similar kind of substances, articles, matter or materials into the waters of any stream, lake, canal, reservoir or other waterway; or so to do on or within five hundred (500) feet from the banks or shores thereof, or within such distance from any park, boulevard or public place, or at any other place located, in whole or in part, within the city or within ten (10) miles therefrom, and which tends either to obstruct or to render the waterway noxious, obnoxious or unsightly. However, the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any instance in which any of such aforesaid substances of a kind used in or resulting from kitchen or toilet facilities are indirectly and lawfully deposited in or permitted to enter any kind of waterway, after having first been caused to enter a public sewer; or to any instance, not involving a public nuisance, where so done under a written permit from any public authorities empowered to issue such a permit in any such instance or for any such purpose. (b) The approval of all necessary public officials and boards of the city having any jurisdiction thereof must be obtained and endorsed upon an application for any such permissible purpose, under subsection (a), whereupon a written permit therefor shall be issued to the applicant by the board of parks and recreation acting therein as representative of all such officials and boards. If any matter so proposed to be dumped, placed or deposited is, in the judgment of all or of any of such officials or boards, unsightly, noxious, offensive to the sense of smell or injurious to the public health or safety, or detrimental to the public welfare, or is reasonably calculated to become so, such boards and public officials shall refuse the permit, or if unable to agree thereon, the board of parks and recreation shall thereupon so act in denying it for all boards and officials. (Code 1975, § 7-4)

Source: Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County, Revised Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/in/indianapolis_-_marion_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TITIIPUORSA_CH341BODOWA_ARTIINGEFetched: 10/27/2026