Lake Travis
| Lake Travis | |
|---|---|
Lake Travis with a full water level
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| Location | Travis / Burnet counties, northwest of Austin, Texas |
| Coordinates | 30°23′31″N 97°54′24″W / 30.39194°N 97.90667°WCoordinates: 30°23′31″N 97°54′24″W / 30.39194°N 97.90667°W. |
| Lake type | Hydroelectric reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Colorado River |
| Primary outflows | Colorado River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 18,930 acres (7,660 ha) |
| Max. depth | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Water volume | 1,130,000 acre·ft (1.39 km3) |
| Shore length1 | 270 mi (434 km) |
| Surface elevation | 681 ft (208 m) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
"Built specifically to contain floodwaters" in a flash-flood prone region, Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1942 by the construction of Mansfield Dam on the western edge of Austin, Texas by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). Highlighting its purpose, even during its construction -- after a severe flood in July 1938 -- the height of the dam was raised to add storage capacity for floodwaters.
Lake Travis has the largest storage capacity of the seven reservoirs known as the Highland Lakes, and stretches 65 miles (105 km) upriver from western Travis County in a highly serpentine course into southern Burnet County to Max Starcke Dam, southwest of the town of Marble Falls. The Pedernales River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, flows into the lake from the southwest in western Travis County. The lake is used for flood control, water supply, electrical power generation and -- advisedly, with warnings and caution -- recreation.
The other reservoirs on the Colorado River are Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Austin, and Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake).
Per its intended purpose for being built, the lake serves as the primary flood control reservoir of the Highland Lake chain. The level of the lake can therefore vary dramatically -- with an over 96-foot range between its historical high and low -- depending on the amount of rainfall in the Colorado River basin upstream.
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Wikipedia