Lake Bastrop

Lake Bastrop is on Spicer Creek in the Colorado River basin three miles northeast of Bastrop in central Bastrop County (at 30°08' N, 97°16' W). The project is owned and operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority as a source of cooling water for the Sim Gideon Steam Power Plant. Construction of the dam, an earthfill structure 4,000 feet long and eighty-five feet high, began in May 1963 and was completed in April 1964; deliberate impoundment of water began as soon as the dam was finished. The lake has a capacity of 16,590 acre-feet and a surface area of 906 acres at the operating elevation of 450 feet above mean sea level. In addition to furnishing industrial water, the lake provides public recreation. The drainage area above the dam is nine square miles, but runoff is supplemented by pumping from the Colorado River to maintain a full lake.