The Willows Neighborhood Association

Inks Lake

Best Kept Secret in the Highland Lakes

Inks Dam, owned by LCRA, creates the 837 acre Inks Lake.

Before Buchanan Dam was completed, LCRA began work three miles downstream on this smaller dam so the two could work in tandem.

Inks Dam, constructed from 1936 to 1938, has no floodgates and the power plant is the smallest in the Highland Lakes chain. A small amount of water can be released through hydroelectric generation, but the bulk of floodwater passes over an uncontrolled spillway.

Although the dam was originally named Arnold Dam, today the lake and dam are named for Roy B. Inks, one of the original directors on the LCRA Board.

Important Statistics

Location: Llano County, 409 river miles from the Gulf of Mexico

When built: 1936 to 1938
Dam dimensions: 96.5 feet high, 1,547.5 feet long, 75.1 feet thick at the base, 16.5 feet thick at the top

Primary purpose: Hydroelectric power

Generating capacity: 14 megawatts

Discharge capacity:
3,200 cubic feet per second (cfs)
1 turbine @ 3,200 cfs

Elevation when full: 888.22 feet above mean sea level (msl)

Volume when full: 15,063 acre-feet

Historic high: 902.8 feet above msl on July 25, 1938

Historic low: 877.1 feet above msl on Dec. 06, 1983

Normal operating range: 886.9 feet to 887.7 feet above msl

Spillway Elevation: 888.3 feet above msl

100-year flood level at dam: 901.7 feet above msl

500-year flood level at dam: 911 feet above msl

Top of dam: 922 feet above msl

Dimensions: 4.2 miles long, 3,000 feet at widest point