Alcoa Lake (Brazos River Basin)

Alcoa Lake is located seven miles southwest of Rockdale in Milam County, and is impounded on Sandy Creek, a tributary of Yegua Creek, which is a tributary of the Brazos River.  The lake is owned and operated by the Aluminum Company of America for industrial and recreational purposes.  Water Right Permit No. 1608 authorized the dam and impoundment on February 13, 1952.  Construction was started on February 17, 1952, and the dam and spillway were completed in October 1952. The top of the dam is at an elevation of 475 feet above mean sea level. Impoundment of water began in early 1952.  The spillway is located near the middle of the dam and is a concrete weir structure with a crest at an elevation of 448.5 feet above mean sea level. Two tainter gates each measuring 33 feet wide by 21 feet tall were installed on the spillway in January 31, 1953. Therefore, the top of the gates are at an elevation of 469.5. The 12.5 mile pipeline from the Little River pumping plant to the lake was placed in operation on January 13, 1953.  Currently, the lake has a capacity of 15,650 acre-feet and a surface area of 914 acres at the top of the spillway gates with an elevation of 469.5 feet above mean sea level.  The lake was maintained at near-spillway level (468.5 feet above mean sea level) by pumping from Little River when necessary, and the water was used for condenser-cooling purposes at a steam-electric generating station.  The drainage area was only six square miles, but this was an off-channel storage.  Most of the water was pumped from Little River.