Lost Valley Reservoir Company Expansion Project
by Pat Britzius, Cambridge Correspondent
On Monday March 18, the Lost Valley Reservoir Company held their annual meeting of stockholders at the Cambridge Exhibit Hall. The meeting was well attended by local farmers and ranchers from Adams and Washington counties. The minutes from the previous year’s meeting held on March 20, 2023 were read by secretary Angel Summers and approved by unanimous vote. She then reviewed the financial statements and balance sheets which were also approved. Present on the Board was President Dale Barton of Cambridge and Directors Irv Leen from Midvale and Lee Ann Evans from Council who were all reelected to their positions for the coming year.
In order to better understand the issues discussed at the meeting, a brief history of the Lost Valley Reservoir will be presented here. The reservoir was created a little over 100 years ago by the Mesa Fruit Orchard Company to replace water used from the middle fork of the Weiser River for the purpose of irrigation. Then around 1923 the Middle Valley Ditch Company paid to have the reservoir raised bringing their shares to around 3,000 acre feet of water of the total 10,000 shares. In 1977 the remaining shares were sold to other irrigators on the Weiser River system. In 1991 the Lost Valley Reservoir Company attempted to raise the reservoir tripling its capacity to 30,000 acre feet of water, but the project was cost prohibitive at that time. Currently the Lost Valley Reservoir Company is in the process of raising the reservoir to that capacity.
The meeting was then turned over to Dave Tuthill from Idaho Water Engineering who gave a slide presentation on where the project stands today. He and his firm have worked on the project for the past 11 years for the Lost Valley Reservoir Company. He stated, “The Lost Valley Reservoir is the most cost effective water storage in the state.” Mr. Tuthill then showed a proposed timeline to completion, potential costs and Federal and State monies which are available to consider.
The way it works is that irrigators own shares in the company labeled A, B and C shares that as previously stated total 10,000 acre feet of water. The costs are projected to be covered by creating and selling an additional 20,000 class D shares which would generate revenue and help pay for raising the reservoir and repair of the current dam and spillway.
What is the current status of the project? Meetings will be held between the Lost Valley Reservoir Company and the Forest Service to proceed with the environmental impact statement and the feasibility study. The Lost Valley Reservoir Company has contracted Sundance Engineering to prepare an environmental impact statement. This statement includes consideration of the northern Idaho ground squirrel living on the east side of the reservoir. The squirrel is on the threatened species list and parts of its habitat may need to be relocated. In addition QRS Engineering was retained to generate a feasibility study and the preliminary engineering is now completed.
According to President Dale Barton, “The ship has already sailed” and he is looking forward to seeing the project move forward. The dam is an earthen dam that is over 100 years old and will have to be repaired anyway in the near future. By repairing it now and raising the water level farmers in the area will benefit by having water later in the growing season and what surplus there is can be sold on the open water market.
