Joe Pool Lake Water Level
Texas · Mountain Creek
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Water level history
About Joe Pool Lake
Joe Pool Lake is a reservoir on the Mountain Creek in Texas, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It's a recreation lake in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its full summer pool sits at 522 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Joe Pool Lake's water level
Joe Pool is the youngest large lake in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, impounded in January 1986 and not full until June 1989. It started life as Lakeview Reservoir and was renamed at the end of 1982 for Joe Pool, a congressman from Oak Cliff; the original name survives in the Trinity River Authority's Lakeview Regional Water Supply Project. The dam is enormous for the lake behind it, an earthfill embankment 24,340 feet long, close to four and a half miles.
Its most useful trait is stability. Conservation pool is 522 feet, held year round with no seasonal change, and the lake typically moves only two to four feet in a year. The 2011 drought that pulled Benbrook nearly eighteen feet down took Joe Pool just three and a half, to 518.46 feet on the same October day. Its real record low, 516.77 feet in October 1996, is the one to quote; readings from early 1989 are lower but that is the lake still filling, not a drought. The record high is 538.03 feet on 30 May 2015, two feet above the top of the flood pool and within three feet of the spillway crest at 541.
That steadiness is why the fishing habitat is unusually good for a metroplex lake. The upper end kept its standing timber from impoundment, the lower end was cleared but had large brush piles built into it before the water arrived, and there are flooded stock ponds, road beds and bridges besides, with hydrilla and American pondweed established in the shallows. The Trinity River Authority holds essentially the whole conservation pool as a single 142,900 acre-foot block, which is a different structure from Benbrook's three separate contract holders. On the south shore, Cedar Hill State Park covers 1,826 acres and contains Penn Farm, a homestead John Anderson Penn established in 1854 and his family worked for over a century.
Joe Pool Lake — frequently asked
What is Joe Pool Lake's full pool elevation?
The top of the conservation pool is 522 feet above sea level. The top of the flood-control pool is 536 feet, and the uncontrolled spillway crest sits above that at 541, so the spillway is a true emergency overflow rather than the thing that defines the flood pool. The top of the dam is 564.5 feet.
How much does Joe Pool Lake's level move?
Not much, typically two to four feet across a year, and there is no seasonal drawdown. It is one of the steadier lakes in the region. For comparison, during the October 2011 drought Joe Pool sat three and a half feet below conservation pool while Benbrook, thirty miles west, was almost eighteen feet down.
What are Joe Pool Lake's record high and low levels?
The record high is 538.03 feet on 30 May 2015, two feet above the top of the flood-control pool. The record low since the lake finished filling is 516.77 feet on 20 October 1996. Readings from early 1989 are lower, but the lake was still filling for the first time then, so those are not drought lows and should not be quoted as records.
Why is the fishing habitat good at Joe Pool?
Because of how it was prepared and how steady it stays. The upper end retains extensive standing timber from original impoundment, and although the lower end was cleared, large brush piles were deliberately constructed before the lake filled. There are also flooded stock ponds, road beds and bridges. Hydrilla and American pondweed have established, which they could not do in a lake with big annual swings.
Who owns the water in Joe Pool Lake?
The Trinity River Authority holds a contract for 142,900 acre-feet, effectively the entire conservation pool as a single block, and cities are its customers rather than direct storage holders. Midlothian currently withdraws municipal water from the lake, and TRA's Lakeview Regional project covers Cedar Hill, Duncanville and Grand Prairie for future development.
What is Penn Farm at Cedar Hill State Park?
An agricultural history centre inside the state park, on the homestead John Anderson Penn established in 1854 in the Cedar Mountains of southwest Dallas County. The Penn family lived and worked the land for more than a century and original structures survive, alongside reconstructed buildings spanning the mid-1800s to mid-1900s. Self-guided tours run daily.
Other lakes near Joe Pool Lake
- Lavon LakeTX
- Grapevine LakeTX
- Lake LewisvilleTX
- Lake GeorgetownTX
- Lake LivingstonTX
- Lake Fork ReservoirTX
See current levels for all 27 Texas lakes and reservoirs →
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