Lake Limestone, located on the upper Navasota River in Limestone, Robertson and Leon counties, is a water supply reservoir built by the Brazos River Authority in 1978. Construction of the reservoir was made possible through the sale of water to Texas Electric Utilities to be used by their lignite-burning electric plants in the area. To view a copy of the Lake Limestone state permit, click here.
Water from the reservoir is supplied for similar use at a NRG steam-electric plant just east of Lake Limestone and a Texas Municipal Power Agency power plant located near the Navasota River 50 miles downstream.
Lake Limestone was formed by the building of the Sterling C. Robertson Dam. Constructed of earth and concrete, the dam runs 8,395 feet and stands 72 feet tall. An emergency spillway measuring 3,000 feet is made of concrete and houses five tainter gates for water release. The depth of the lake near the dam is 43 feet.
The waters of the reservoir are open for free public access via four boat ramps at various locations around the reservoir for boating, swimming, fishing and other recreational activities.
When full, the reservoir covers a surface area of 12,553 acres with 98 miles of shoreline. It contains a conservation pool of 208,017 acre-feet and a permitted yield of 65,074 acre feet of water supply.
The project was built entirely without use of tax dollars with funding for the reservoir being financed by revenues from the sale of water supply contracts.