Lake Travis
Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. It is named in honor of William B. Travis.
| Lake Travis | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of Lake Travis in 2018 | |
Lake Travis Lake Travis | |
| Location | Travis / Burnet counties, northwest of Austin, Texas |
| Coordinates | 30°23′31″N 97°54′24″W |
| Lake type | Hydroelectric reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Colorado River |
| Primary outflows | Colorado River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 18,930 acres (7,660 ha) |
| Max. depth | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Water volume | 1,130,000 acre⋅ft (1.39 km3) |
| Shore length1 | 270 mi (434 km) |
| Surface elevation | 681 ft (208 m) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Serving principally as a flood-control reservoir, Lake Travis' historical minimum to maximum water height change is nearly 100 feet. For example, following the 2018 Llano River flood (the Llano River feeds into the Colorado River), Lake Travis saw a 20-foot depth increase within a single 24-hour period of time. With 30 square miles of surface area, Lake Travis has the largest storage capacity of the seven reservoirs known as the Highland Lakes, and stretches 65 miles (105 km) upriver from western Travis County (near Lago Vista, Texas) in a highly serpentine course into southern Burnet County to Max Starcke Dam, southwest of the town of Marble Falls. Besides being used for flood control and as a water supply, the lake is also used for electrical power generation and recreation.
The Pedernales River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, flows into the lake from southwestern Travis County.