Ballinger Lake (Colorado River Basin)

Ballinger Lake, also known as Ballinger City Lake or Lake Moonen, is located about four miles northwest of Ballinger in Runnels County, on Valley Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River.  The lake and dam were built, owned and operated by the City of Ballinger for water supply and recreational purposes.  Construction of the original earthfill dam was completed in 1947 and was enlarged at its downstream in 1984.  Constructed by general contractor, Parkhill, Smith, and Cooper, the dam is an earthfill embankment of thirty feet high and 4,400 feet long including a 400-foot spillway. The top of the dam is at an elevation of 1,702 feet above mean sea level. The uncontrolled emergency spillway is located on the right side of the bank and cut through natural ground with the crest at an elevation of 1,673.5 feet above mean sea level. The service spillway is a concrete structure at the middle of the dam with crest at elevation of 1,668.3 feet above mean sea level. The new lake has a storage capacity of 8,215 acre-feet encompassing a surface area of 500 acres at conservation elevation of 1,668.0 feet above mean sea level.  Water is supplied to the City of Ballinger, Rowena Water Supply Corporation, and the North Runnels Water Supply Corporation.  It is the largest lake located in Runnels County.