Overview
Lake Travis is a roughly 19,000-acre reservoir on the Colorado River in Travis and Burnet counties, northwest of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. Mansfield Dam was completed in the early 1940s and is operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) for flood storage, water supply, hydroelectric power, and recreation as the primary flood-control lake in the Highland Lakes chain.
At conservation pool the lake has about 270 miles of shoreline, an average depth near 59 feet, and a maximum depth of about 190 feet. Deep limestone canyons, rocky points, clear Hill Country water, and long winding arms create one of Central Texas's most scenic and heavily used reservoirs.
Travis is a premier Austin-area destination for boating, sailing, swimming, and fishing for striped bass, largemouth bass, and catfish, with fisheries managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Public parks, marinas, and boat ramps around the lake support intense year-round recreation.
Water levels are managed by LCRA around a conservation pool of 681 feet on the LCRA legacy MSL datum, with flood storage to about 721.4 feet. Upstream Highland Lakes such as Lake Buchanan and Inks Lake feed the chain; Travis is designed to rise and fall more than most Texas lakes for flood control and drought storage, so monitoring current lake levels is essential for boating safety, fishing, and dock access.
Current Conditions
Lake Travis is currently 1.2 feet below full pool and has fallen slightly over the past week.
- 7-day trendFallingLatest movement can differ from the seven-day trend.
- 7-day changeDown 0.63 ft
- 30-day changeDown 3.32 ft
- Drought conditionsAbnormally Dry
About This Lake
Learn how this lake is managed, what affects its water level, and where Lake Insights gets its data.
Lake Travis is a 19,044-acre reservoir on the Colorado River managed by Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).