Steinhagen Reservoir facts for kids
The Steinhagen Reservoir is a lake located in east Texas, near the town of Jasper, Texas. It's nestled in the beautiful Piney Woods area. This lake sits right on the border between Tyler County and Jasper County. For many years, local people have simply called the lake and its dam "Dam B". This special lake was created to help with fun activities like boating and fishing, to make electricity, and to save water from the Neches River and the Angelina River. You can even find Martin Dies, Jr. State Park right on this lake, and U.S. Highway 190 crosses the lake near its center!
How the Lake Was Built
The Steinhagen Lake project, originally known as "Dam B", was approved in 1945. Construction began in March 1947. The lake started filling with water in April 1951, and the dam was finished in June 1953. The whole project cost about $8 million. A group called the Lower Neches Valley Authority helped by contributing $2 million.
Later, a power plant was added to the dam. This plant, called the Robert D. Willis Hydropower Project, started being built in March 1987. It began making electricity on November 17, 1989. This project was special because the Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency paid for it all upfront. The power plant can make 8 megawatts of electricity.
Naming the Lake
The Steinhagen Lake project is one of four lakes planned for the Angelina-Neches Rivers area. Another big lake, Sam Rayburn Reservoir, was finished in 1965. In July 1967, "Dam B" was officially renamed Town Bluff Dam and B. A. Steinhagen Lake.
- Town Bluff Dam got its name because it's close to a community in Tyler County called Town Bluff.
- B. A. Steinhagen was a very important person from Beaumont, Texas. He worked hard to plan and get approval for the lake and other water projects.
- The Robert D. Willis Hydropower Project is named after Robert D. Willis. He was a leader at the Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency from 1980 to 1988.
What the Lake is Used For
Steinhagen Lake has several important jobs:
- Controlling Water Flow: It helps manage the water released from the Sam Rayburn Dam, making sure the flow is steady.
- Making Electricity: The lake provides the water needed for the hydropower plant to create electricity.
- Water Supply: It stores water that can be sent to a water supply canal.
The electricity made here is sold by the Southwestern Power Administration to the Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency. This agency then sends power to towns like Jasper, Liberty, and Livingston, Texas in Texas, and Vinton, Louisiana in Louisiana.
The Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA) uses water from the lake for many things, including:
- Growing rice.
- Controlling salt levels in the water.
- Cleaning up pollution.
- Providing water for cities and industries.
The LNVA can take up to 2,000 cubic feet of water per second from the lake when needed. If the lake's water level gets too low, Sam Rayburn Dam can release more water into Steinhagen Lake to meet the needs downstream.
Keeping the Lake Healthy
In 2006 and 2007, a special project was done to help control too much plant growth in the lake. This project was a team effort between the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Lower Neches Valley Authority, and the Southwestern Power Administration.
During the summer of 2006, the lake's water level was lowered on purpose. This exposed the extra plants to the hot summer sun and drying winds, which helped kill them off. While the water was low, the Texas Department of Transportation also took the chance to fix parts of the US Highway 190 bridge that crosses the lake. Workers also found and fixed some cracks and issues with the dam itself.
Because of these repairs and some weather delays, the lake stayed low until late spring 2007. By then, the plants had been exposed to both summer heat and winter cold. This helped greatly reduce the amount of unwanted plants in the lake for several years. There are also plans to use special plant-killing sprays from a boat to keep the plants under control in the future.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army.
