TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)-A project to maximize the amount of water being put back into a regional aquifer and to prevent damage to a public road will get underway this fall and winter near Eden.

Last week the Idaho Water Resource Board approved the construction of an earthfill embankment on the north side of the Milepost 31 recharge basin that should stop water at the site from flooding a nearby Bureau of Land Management road and fence.

At the same time the 14-foot embankment will allow the recharge site to fill to the full capacity of 650 cubic feet per second of water flow on the more than 300-acre recharge site. Without it the flow would be around half that, according to the Water Resource Board. The cost to build the embankment and repair damages to the road and fence is around $320,000 and will use local materials.

The Milepost 31 recharge site is one of several stretched across the Eastern Snake Plain where the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer lies beneath, supplying water to farms, industry, and residents from east Idaho to the Magic Valley. The Water Board has a goal of recharging the aquifer every year with an average of 250,000 acre-feet of water outside of the growing season.

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