Our water supplies come from a series of reservoirs managed by the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD). As one of the largest water suppliers in Texas, TRWD meets the daily needs of nearly two million residents across an 11-county service area.
The reservoirs we depend on are located in the Trinity River watershed. They include Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake on the West Fork of the Trinity River, and Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers reservoirs located approximately 75 and 90 miles (respectively) southeast of Fort Worth. The two larger reservoirs in East Texas supply about 75 percent of the water we consume in Tarrant County.
The West Fork lakes are operated as a gravity fed system. Water released from Lake Bridgeport flows downstream into Eagle Mountain. Releases from Eagle Mountain flow into Lake Worth, which was built in 1914 to meet the water supply needs of Fort Worth residents. In contrast, massive pipelines and a number of pump stations are needed to bring water from the East Texas reservoirs into Tarrant County.
The water district also uses two smaller reservoirs for terminal storage. Using Lake Benbrook and Lake Arlington for terminal storage improves the efficiency of TRWD water management operations. They offer a place for the water district to store water in the winter, when pumping costs are lower, until it is needed in the summer. Storing water in these two reservoirs helps take the pressure off TRWD’s pipeline system during periods of peak demands.
| Reservoir | Year
impounded | Location | Surface
area (acres) | Conservation
storage (acre-feet) |
| Lake Bridgeport | 1932 | Jack and Wise counties | 11,954 | 366,236 |
| Eagle Mountain
Lake | 1932 | Tarrant County | 9,104 | 182,725 |
| Cedar Creek
Reservoir | 1965 | Henderson and Kaufman counties | 32,873 | 644,785 |
| Richland-Chambers
Reservoir | 1987 | Freestone and
Navarro counties | 43,384 | 1,112,763 |
Terminal Storage:
| Reservoir | Year
impounded | Location | Surface area (acres) | Conservation
storage (acre-feet) |
| Lake Arlington | 1957 | Tarrant County | 2,275 | 45,710 |
| Lake Benbrook | 1952 | Tarrant County | 3,770 | 85,648 |