Timeline of the Brazos River Basin

In search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado leads an expedition into the Brazos basin.

Stephen F. Austin obtains permission from the Spanish Governor of Texas and Coahuila to explore the country on the Brazos River. Austin is convinced the land of the Brazos River basin is fertile and begins plans for colonization.

Major flooding occurs and the Brazos River leaves its banks from Washington to Ringold's Prairie (near present-day Navasota).

Texas Declaration of Independence is signed at Washington, below the confluence of the Brazos and Navasota rivers.

Major flooding occurs and Brazos leaves its banks from Washington to Navasota and widens the river to six miles or more for an extended distance.

The side-wheeler Mustang becomes the first ship to unload cargo at Washington, fueling the dreams of men desiring to build an empire based on steamboat transportation.

The Brazos Steam Association forms and purchases two boats for the purpose of navigation between Washington and the Gulf of Mexico.

A canal between the Brazos River and Port of Galveston is opened.

Lt. Col. S. D. Sturgis reports to the War Department that the water of the Brazos River is so briny that not even mules will consume it.

Col. William Prather discovers oil near Waco.

Leaders from towns and counties along the river establish the Brazos River Impoundment Association. The goal of the association is to tame the river. The Association's efforts are hindered by a lack of financing.

The Rivers and Harbors Act provides funds for the construction of a lock and dam system between Waco and Washington. Work completed before World War I was destroyed by the flood of 1913, ending a century-old dream of a transportation network on the Brazos River.

The Guadalupe and Trinity rivers leave their banks, and the Brazos River and the Colorado River join to flood more than 3,000 square miles of land and cause the deaths of at least 177 people and massive property damage ($3,436,144 in the Brazos Valley alone). The flood causes the river to change course. It now enters the Gulf of Mexico at Freeport.

The Brazos River and Valley Improvement Association is formed in Waco with the goal of harnessing the Brazos River. The Association's efforts are hindered by a lack of financing.

The Conservation Amendment to the Texas Constitution is passed. Under its provisions the control, prevention, and distribution of flood and storm waters becomes the duty of the state and all limitations which had prevented local financing of flood control projects were removed.

Major flooding brings death and destruction of greater magnitude than previously experienced. The floods of 1913 and 1921 are the catalyst, which causes the state to attempt to tame the Brazos River.

The Texas State Legislature appropriates funds for a survey of all rivers of the state and analysis of flood and water problems. The study clearly established the need for a state agency with the necessary power to carry out the tasks required to harness and control the Brazos River.

The Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District is created under Article XVI, Section 59 of the Texas Constitution, to conserve, control, and utilize to beneficial service the storm and flood waters of the Brazos River and its tributary streams.

Lands of the Brazos River basin are producing more than 18 million barrels of oil a year. Oil becomes the backbone of the economy in many areas of the Brazos River basin.

United States Congress passes the National Industrial Recovery Act, signaling the beginning of the New Deal and a commitment by the federal government to restore the economy through massive spending. Title II of the act creates the Public Works Administration to make loans and grants to states and other public bodies in order to stimulate construction.

The District completes its first Master Plan for reservoir development, including a total of 13 dams on the Brazos River and its tributaries.

The District begins construction of its first dam and reservoir project,Possum Kingdom, on the main stem of the Brazos River in Palo Pinto County.

The United States Congress broadens the mandate of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to include construction of multi-purpose flood controls and water supply projects. The District completes a revised Master Plan.

The District completes Lake Possum Kingdom, its first reservoir project.

A partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District, allows the District to acquire conservation storage space in the nine multi-purpose Corps' reservoirs to be constructed over the next 30 years.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Whitney on the main stem of the Brazos River in Hill, Bosque, and Johnson counties.

The Briscoe Irrigation Company and the Galveston County Water Company file complaints before the Texas Railroad Commission concerning the salt pollution caused by oil and gas operations in the upper watershed. This results in a Railroad Commission investigation of oil operators and the issuance of pipeline severances when abuses were not corrected. Little was accomplished by this effort to purify the waters of the Brazos River.

Record drought occurs. Most Texas counties are declared disaster areas.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Belton on the Leon River in Bell County.

The name of the District is officially changed to the Brazos River Authority.

Texas A&M completes study and report revealing that salt contamination in the upper basin is caused by a subterranean outcropping of salt which is much larger than originally estimated. The salt bed underlies and contaminates streams in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Proctor on the Leon River in Comanche County.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Waco on the Bosque River in McLennan County.

The BRA begins construction of the DeCordova Bend Dam and Lake Granbury in Hood County.

The BRA acquires the privately owned American Canal and Briscoe Canal in the lower basin, as a means of furnishing water to Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties for rice irrigation, and industrial and municipal uses.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Somerville on Yegua Creek in Burleson and Washington Counties.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes Lake Stillhouse Hollow on the Lampasas River in Bell County.

Lake Granbury and DeCordova Bend Dam completed on the Brazos River in Hood County.

The BRA begins operating the Waco Metropolitan Area Regional Sewerage System to treat wastes from the Cities of Waco, Bellmead, Lacy Lakeview, and Woodway. The treatment capacity of the plant is 17.8 million gallons per day.

The BRA begins operating the Sugar Land Regional Sewerage System to treat wastes from the City of Sugar Land, the Municipal Utilities District, the Nalco Chemical Company, and the Imperial Sugar Company. The treatment capacity of the plant is 3.9 million gallons per day.

The BRA begins operating the Temple-Belton Regional Sewerage System with a total capacity of 5.0 million gallons per day. The system serves the City of Belton and the western half of the City of Temple.

The BRA completes the Sterling C. Robertson Dam, which impounds the Navasota River to form Lake Limestone, the BRA's third reservoir project.

The BRA expands the capacity of the Sugar Land Regional Sewerage System to 6.5 million gallons per day.

The BRA enters into the Brazos-Colorado Water Alliance with the Lower Colorado River Authority, primarily to address water and wastewater issues in the rapidly growing Williamson County area.

The BRA begins managing operations at the Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater System in Williamson County.

Major flooding occurs in the central part of the basin due to recurring thunderstorms.

The BRA initiates the Basin Monitoring Program, a strategic, basin-wide water quality data collection effort.

BRA staff participating in the Middle Brazos Feasibility Study, Phase II of the U.S. Corps of Engineers Middle Brazos Study, conduct pre-construction analysis of possible remediation measures, such as wetlands, reforestation, and conservation easements, to improve water quality and aquatic habitat.

The BRA contracts with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to perform the Clean Rivers water quality monitoring program in the basin.

As part of Texas Senate Bill 1, the BRA joins the Brazos G Regional Water Planning Group as administrative agent.

The BRA begins replacement of the flood gates of the Morris Sheppard Dam at Possum Kingdom Lake. The project will last nine years. At the same time, the BRA begins rehabilitation of the 16 gates at the DeCordova Bend Dam at Lake Granbury. The rehab included the installation of new electric gate hoists.

The BRA begins operations for the Clute/Richwood Regional Wastewater System.

Transfer of ownership, operations and personnel at the Granbury Surface Water and Treatment System from the BRA to Granbury was completed on May 31, 2012.

After owning and operating the Temple-Belton Wastewater Treatment Plant for 38 years, the BRA struck an agreement with the cities, transferring ownership of the plant to them. The BRA continues to manage operations of the regional plant.

The Texas State Water Plan received a long needed financial boost when voters approved State Proposition 6. This amendment to the Texas Constitution allowed for the creation of the State Water Implementation Fund with $2 billion budgeted to help fund the water plan’s 562 proposed projects. These funds act as “seed money” for loans to help pay a project’s costs.

The 83rd Texas Legislature passes Senate Bill 918, allowing the BRA to sell its remaining residential and commercial leases that were not covered by House Bill 3031, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature.

On March 12, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the Brazos River Authority’s surrender of its license to operate the Lake Possum Kingdom hydroelectric plant. With that approval, the 73-year-old plant was officially decommissioned.

The BRA partnered with other state and local organizations to conduct a flood study in the lowest portions of the Brazos River basin. The flood protection planning study was initiated with the help of a $514,783 state grant and matching funds from local governments and organizations. The project was created to study flooding issues from the Grimes/ Waller county line to the Gulf of Mexico. That area’s population is booming, yet floodplain information has been lacking or outdated.

On May 13, 2014, the Brazos River Authority delivered the updated Water Management Plan to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) after it was amended to incorporate the Texas Senate Bill 3 Environmental Flow Standards for the Brazos River basin adopted by the TCEQ. The WMP and related System Operation Permit are an effort by the BRA to address current and future basin water supply needs in a cost-effective and environmentally-sensitive manner. If granted, the permit will appropriate a new, reliable supply of water for municipalities, industry, agricultural and mining interests within the Brazos basin without the costly and time-consuming construction of new reservoirs.

On August 23, the TCEQ approved the System Operations Permit making additional water available for use in the Brazos River basin. Approximately 100,000 acre-feet of additional water can be supplied as a result of the permit.

In 2016, ownership of the West Central Brazos Water Distribution System, acquired by the BRA as a means of delivering water westward from Possum Kingdom Lake to meet municipal and industrial needs in the region, was transferred to the West Central Texas Municipal Water District.

The divestiture of leasehold properties at Possum Kingdom was completed with the successful sale and disposition of the legislatively mandated properties in March 2016.

The BRA became actively engaged in a conjunctive use groundwater project in Williamson County with a demonstration project to determine the feasibility of blend groundwater from the Trinity Aquifer, which underlies much of eastern Williamson County, with treated Lake Granger surface water from the BRA’s East Williamson County Regional Water System. A test well was drilled and water quality testing conducted. The BRA began construction during of a Trinity Aquifer production well that will increase the available water for Williamson County.

The BRA’s System Operation Permit Drought Study was completed and filed with the TCEQ in June 2017. The conclusions of the study noted that the Upper Basin experienced conditions worse than those in the drought of the 1950’s, while the remainder of the basin and reservoirs did not.

After many years working to obtain the System Operation Permit, the final permit became uncontestable in September 2018. The contracting of additional water supply under the permit will begin with fiscal year 2020.

The BRA completed its first Trinity Aquifer groundwater production well in calendar year 2018. The well is the first in a series that will be used conjunctively with surface water from Lake Granger and the BRA’s East Williamson County Water Treatment Plant. The project creates additional water supply to serve the rapidly growing Williamson and Bell County areas along the Interstate 35 corridor.

In 2014, the BRA and several partner organizations were awarded funding by the Texas Water Development Board to study the lower Brazos River floodplain. The study would focus on flooding issues from the Grimes/Waller county line to the Gulf of Mexico. Headed by the engineering firm of Halff and Associates, the study was nearly complete when Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, dropping more than 60 inches of rainfall. The BRA Board of Directors approved additional funding for the study to continue, allowing for information from the hurricane to be included. The final report was completed in March 2019.

Since the early part of the century, the fight to slow the spread of zebra mussels, an invasive non-native mollusk, throughout the southern states had escalated. The BRA joined with other river authorities and water providers in a campaign to educate the public in efforts to slow the spread into the Brazos River basin. In 2016, the mollusk was found in the BRA System’s Lake Belton. In 2017, zebra mussels were found in Lake Stillhouse Hollow, temporarily halting use of the Williamson County Regional Raw Water Line to transport water to Lake Georgetown. Following meetings with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the pipeline owners, use of the line resumed when needed in 2018. To date, the mollusks have also been found in Lakes Georgetown and Granger within the BRA System of water supply reservoirs.

The water right permit for the proposed Allens Creek Reservoir was amended by the Texas Legislature in 2011 to require that construction commence by 2025 with completion by 2028. In 2017, the BRA informed the City of Houston of its intent to begin environmental permitting and preliminary design. As the BRA moved forward with the permitting portion of the project, the City of Houston became reticent and then resistant to the project, noting they had no immediate need for the water. Following more than a year of failed negotiations to buy out the city’s right in the permit, the BRA backed legislation proposed by several lower Brazos basin customers to force the City of Houston to sell their interest in Allens Creek Reservoir. The legislature passed the bill for a required sale of $23 million which was later signed into law by Governor Abbott.