Water School

A wildlife management exemption to Texas water rights allows property owners to build and maintain a dam or reservoir of not more than 200 acre-feet of water on qualified open-space land for the purpose of providing water to indigenous wildlife.

A dam is a structure designed to hold back water in a lake, river, stream or other waterbody. Large dams typically include gates or other outlet devices that can be raised or lowered, opened or closed to allow variable amounts of water to pass downstream or leave the lake. The path the water takes to leave the reservoir through the gates is called a spillway.There are several styles of dams used for different purposes to meet specific conditions at the dam site.  The design of the dam is in...

While the process may vary for each location, here’s a general outline of how a reservoir goes from idea to reality.Once a need for water in an area is established, a site for the reservoir must be chosen. Several factors go into this decision, including nearness to a source of demand, a feeder supply of water (such as a river or creek), the geological suitability of the area and engineering constraints. Other factors considered could include impact on the environment, the local population...

Periodically, officials conduct surveys of reservoirs within the Brazos River basin to determine each lake’s volume. As part of that work, survey crews determine each lake’s depth (in feet). Do not confuse this measurement with lake level, however.A reservoir’s depth is the distance from the bottom to the top of the conservation pool, the point where the lake is considered full. The lake level is the number of feet the surface is above mean sea level.Surveys use a combinat...

Mean sea level is the average height of the ocean’s surface, between high and low tide. It is used as a standard in reckoning land and other elevations such as lake levels. A lake’s conservation pool will be measured as a certain number of feet above mean sea level.

Texas streams and rivers are in constant motion and the waters they pour into our reservoirs carry with them a continuous but varying amount of sediment.When the water is slowed or stopped as it runs into a reservoir or by a dam, the sediment drops to the bottom. This sediment builds up year after year and at some point, fills the reservoir to a point it can no longer continue to serve its purpose in flood control or water supply. Without expensive dredging, this would be the end of the res...