Lost Valley Reservoir Expansion Project
The Lost Valley Reservoir Board has been working for several years now on a project that would raise the amount of water storage capacity in Lost Valley Reservoir from 10,000 acre feet to 30,000 acre feet.
The current dirt dam was built in 1910, and the water level was raised by six feet in 1929.
According to board member Lee Anne Evans, the board retained Doug Jones with Idaho Water Engineering to manage the process. Jones was an Idaho State Legislator for twenty years and was chairperson of the Agriculture Committee and on the Natural Resources Committee for a number of years.
He was a farmer in the Twin Falls area, where his family raised ten different crops and also had a fleet of combines, they rented out. He now lives in Meridian.
Jones said he continues to meet via Zoom with Lost Valley Reservoir Board Members every other Monday.
He said the project is moving along well, although not as quickly as he had hoped.
“We have sold all available water shares that will go into effect once the project is completed. Most of the shares, which sold for $35 per share, were purchased by farmers in the Council and Midvale area,” he said.
This money was used as matching funds to apply for a grant from the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
Jones said that eventually, the Board will apply for a low interest thirty-year loan to pay for the cost of the project.
He also said that an inundation study would be conducted by the Idaho Department of Water Resources because they have the computers and software to conduct such a study.
Dana Harris, New Meadows Forest Service District Ranger said that currently, the forest service is updating its investigation on what will happen to the Northern Idaho Ground Squirrels, only known to live in Adams and Valley Counties, should the water level in Lost Valley Reservoir be raised.
She said a study had been completed in 2019, but last summer, that study was updated with additional information which needs to be incorporated into the forest service’s report. She added that another study was also being done on the flora and fauna of the area.
She said that the forest service must accept the application for the project before an Environmental Impact Study can begin.
Harris said she believed the forest service would either approve or disapprove the project by January or February of 2025.
If the project is approved, Sundance Consulting will do the EIS, she said.
