Cedar Bayou Generating Pond (Trinity-San Jacinto River Basin)

Cedar Bayou Generating Pond (also known as Dutton Lake) is a manmade off-channel reservoir located about ten miles southwest of Anahuac in Chambers County, on Cedar Bayou, a tributary of Galveston Bay.  The reservoir is owned and operated by NRG Energy, Inc.  (formerly Houston Lighting and Power) for cooling purposes of the electric generating station.  The Water Right Permit bears a priority date of April 6, 1967.  Construction of the dam/levee was completed in 1972.

The dam/levee is an earth-fill dike of 22,342 feet in length, 20 feet in width, and a maximum height of 16.5 feet with a top elevation of 10 feet above mean sea level.  The spillway is a weir and bridge structure of about 329 feet in length, controlled by stop log gates with a top elevation of 7 feet above mean sea level.  At this elevation, the Pond would store 13,750 acre feet of water with a surface area of about 2,600 acres.  Water is pumped into the Pond from Trinity Bay to keep the water level.  Excessive water in the pond will be returned to the Trinity Bay.