Lake Bardwell

Looking North. Showing service bridge  piers and outlet works

Local residents of the Ellis County and surrounding areas in North Texas realized their future would require water conversation. This realization became Lake Bardwell. It was approved by the US Congress on March 31, 1960, to be built by the US Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $12,630,000. In Today's money according to Morgan Friedman inflation calculataor, you are looking at 106 million dollars.  So this lake was no small project! Lake Bardwell controls 178 square miles of drainage in the area. The lake is 5.4 miles long, 1.2 miles wide at its widest, and the shoreline is 25 miles. 

"The state of Texas controls allocations of water from the conservation pool through the Trinity River Authority (TRA.) The Secretary of the Army approved a contract on June 24, 1963, authorizing the TRA to utilize 25% of the conservation storage space (10,700 acre-feet) as water supply for the city of Ennis. A supplemental agreement to the contract approved in October 1969 reallocated 60% of the water in the conservation pool to the city of Ennis and 40% to the city of Waxahachie. "-US Army Corps of Engineers

                                                           Looking upstream spillway slab
Lake Bardwell is maintained at 421 mean sea level as much time as possible. Lake Bardwell is becoming more and more a recreational attraction with population rising in the area. For details on the lake go to the Corps of Engineers link here