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Central Utah Water outlines gravel-pit recharge tests and a parcel trade idea for a recharge basin
Summary
Central Utah Water told Highland council it drilled monitoring wells at a local gravel pit and saw a minor test show water infiltrating. CUW proposed trading parcels with the city and monitoring groundwater while Kilgore completes mining (estimated 18 months——2 years).
Central Utah Water presented a technical update to the Highland City Council on April 21 about a former gravel-pit site under study as a potential aquifer-recharge basin.
Kirk Beecher, CUW lands manager, said the district drilled three groundwater-monitoring wells on and near the pit and conducted a short spring test that "was a minor test, but at least it showed that water was going in." CUW recorded small water-level rises at wells downstream of the site and continues to monitor groundwater under state reporting requirements.
Beecher described one possible path forward: CUW would acquire and regrade parts of the mined basin to make it a contiguous infiltration area and proposed a parcel trade with the city for property closer to Highway 92 to give the city better frontage and access. CUW would ask to retain an access corridor through any traded parcel so existing tenant Kilgore could finish mining to the leased elevation; Kilgore representatives told CUW there is about "18 months to two years" of material left before remediation obligations must be completed, Beecher said.
Council members pressed CUW on whether recharge could cause basement flooding for nearby homes, noting the neighborhood is above the pits elevation. CUW responded the recharge target aquifers are deeper than residential foundations, and monitoring would continue; Beecher said engineers would design slopes and stabilization measures and that the district would pilot recharge and report results to the state. He said Cathodic-protection wells discussed near Canal Boulevard are separate infrastructure and not injection wells.
The discussion also covered water sources and methods: CUW would spread surface water to infiltrate the basin (potentially American Fork River flows) rather than pumping injection, and earlier short runs produced an infiltration rate the team estimated at roughly three inches per day at test locations. Beecher said longer-term engineering studies are required before any large-scale recharge and that reclamation/restoration obligations in the mining lease require Kilgore to restore slopes and apply topsoil within about a year of mining completion.
Council members asked staff to continue receiving updates as monitoring continues and engineering studies are completed. Bruce Ward, a CUW participant, asked council leadership to engage with a May 11 kickoff for the North County Water Supply Master Plan, a regional "one-water" planning process that CUW says will examine surface, groundwater and reuse options through 2100.
The presentation left the council with technical questions about monitoring results, a request for future updates on pilot infiltration results, and a flag to coordinate any parcel-trade talks between CUW and city staff.
