Lake Waco

Lake Waco is a reservoir located within the city limits of Waco, in McLennan County, Texas, which serves as the western border for the city of Waco. The dam is located on the Bosque River. The lake has 79,000 acre feet (97,000,000 m³) of water and is currently run by the Army Corps of Engineers. Lake Waco top of conservation pool was raised about 8 feet (2 m) in 2005. This has helped with fishing.

Lake Waco
Aerial view of Lake Waco and dam (circa 1960s).
Lake Waco Show map of Texas Lake Waco Show map of the United States
Location	Waco, Texas, United States
Coordinates	31°35′01″N 97°12′02″W
Type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Bosque River
Primary outflows	Bosque River
Basin countries	United States

Aerial photo of Lake Waco looking south. Waco Regional Airport in foreground.

Southern half of Lake Waco with Twin Bridges (Texas State Highway 6) in view

View of Lake Waco, from Ridgewood Country Club, 2010

The flood threat to the city of Waco and downstream portions of the Brazos River - combined with the need for conservation storage to save millions of gallons of water that were wasted, led local citizens to seek a new reservoir. Through their efforts, Congress authorized the project for construction by the Corps of Engineers.

By law, local interests are required to bear the cost of acquisition of the storage allocated to conservation in the reservoir. A water conservation contract covering repayment of the cost of those features has been approved, and, under its terms, the Brazos River Authority will also contribute its share annually for operation and maintenance of the project.

Waco Lake is operated for its various purposes by the Corps of Engineers, with water being furnished to the Authority under the term by the Texas Water Commission.

A triple murder occurred at the lake in July 1982.