Lake Livingston (Trinity River Basin)
Lake Livingston is located about six miles southwest of Livingston, on the Trinity River. Lake Livingston was built, owned and operated by the Trinity River Authority under contract with the City of Houston for the flood control, municipal, industrial water supplies, irrigation and recreation purposes. The lake construction was paid for by the revenue bonds that were to be redeemed with income derived from the sale of water. The dam was designed by Brown and Root, Inc.
Construction began on May 28, 1966 and was completed on August 29, 1969 by Forrest and Cotton, Incorporated. Deliberate impoundment of water began in October 1968. The earthfill dam with a concrete spillway is 2.5 miles (4 km) in length and has an average depth of 55 feet. The spillway crest elevation is ninety-nine feet above mean sea level. The reservoir has a normal capacity of 1,788,000 acre-feet, covers 82,600 acres at its normal pool elevation of 131 feet above mean sea level. Lake Livingston has more than 450 miles of shoreline and drains an area of 16,616 square miles, extending into San Jacinto, Polk, Walker, and Trinity Counties. The lake is the largest lake constructed for water supply purposes located totally within the State of Texas.