ALCOA LAKE. Alcoa Lake is on Sandy Creek in the Brazos River basin, seven miles southwest of Rockdale in Milam County (its midpoint is at 30°35' N, 97°03' W). Sandy Creek is a tributary of Yegua Creek, which in turn empties into the Brazos River. The lake is owned and operated by the Aluminum Company of America for industrial and recreational purposes. Construction was started on February 17, 1952, and the dam and spillway were completed in October 1952; the gates were not installed until January 31, 1953. Impoundment of water began in early 1952. The 12½-mile pipeline from the Little River pumping plant to the lake was placed in operation on January 13, 1953. In 1966 the lake had a capacity of 10,500 acre-feet and a surface area of 703 acres at the top of the spillway gates. The lake was maintained at near-spillway level by pumping from Little River when necessary, and the water was used for condenser-cooling purposes at a steam-electric generating station. The drainage area was only six square miles, but this was an off-channel storage. Most of the water was pumped from Little River.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. L. Dowell, Dams and Reservoirs in Texas: History and Descriptive Information (Texas Water Commission Bulletin 6408 [Austin, 1964]).
