Irish Presbyterians from South Carolina Geography According to the 2010 census, Bloomington has a total area of , of which (or 99.15%) is land and (or 0.85%) is water. Climate Southern Indiana receives an abundance of rain, with a yearly average of nearly 50 inches. Geology Bloomington is an area of irregular limestone terrain characterized by sinks, ravines, fissures, underground streams, sinking streams, springs and caves. It is in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, resting on the intersection of the Norman Uplands and the Mitchell Plain. The city's relatively varied topography is a sharp contrast to the flatter terrain more typical of central to northern portions of Indiana. Water Bloomington is on comparatively high ground, the summit of the divide between the basins of the West Fork and East Fork of Indiana's White River. Accordingly, there are no major watercourses within the city, nor is much groundwater available for wells. The largest stream within the city is Clear Creek, with its eastern branch known on the Indiana University campus as "The Campus River". Due to the absence of either natural lakes or rivers or groundwater in or near the city, a number of dams have been constructed on nearby creeks over the last 100 years to provide for the water needs of Bloomington and Monroe County. Early 20th-century damming projects occurred at locations southwest of the city, the most notable being the Leonard Springs Dam. Due to the limestone formations underlying the reservoirs and the dams, water kept seeping from the reservoirs through naturally developing underground channels. Despite all efforts, the city was never able to fully stop the leakage and had to resort to pumping leaking water back to the reservoir. By the 1920s, a more radical solution was needed to deal with the water crisis. A new reservoir, known as Griffy Lake, was constructed in a more geologically suitable area north of the city. (It is now within Bloomington's official city limits.) Later, in the 1950s, two much larger reservoirs, Lake Lemon and Monroe Lake were created in the northeastern and southeastern parts of Monroe County. Monroe Lake was created by the US Army Corps of Engineers for flood control but has since been used to supply the city and the county with water. The water pumping station at Griffy Lake was mothballed until May 2020. Presently, the city is supplied with drinking water from Monroe Lake,