Lake Walter E. Long is a power plant

Thermal power station

A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...

 cooling

Cooling pond

A cooling pond is a man-made body of water primarily formed for the purpose of supplying cooling water to a nearby power plant or industrial facility such as a petroleum refinery, pulp and paper mill, chemical plant, steel mill or smelter...

 reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 on Decker Creek in Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The reservoir was officially impounded in 1967 and serves to provide water for turbines used in the production of electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 from petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

-based fuels. The dam and the lake are managed by the City of Austin. Surrounding Lake Walter E. Long is the city of Austin's Lake Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park, a popular recreational destination.

Lake Walter E. Long is also known as Decker Lake.

Flora and fauna

Lake Walter E. Long has been stocked with species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish present in Lake Walter E. Long include catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

, largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, hybrid striped bass

Hybrid striped bass

A hybrid striped bass, also known as a wiper or whiterock bass, is a hybrid between the striped bass and the white bass . It can be distinguished from the striped bass by broken rather than solid horizontal stripes on the body...

, and sunfish

Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...

. Plant species present in the lake water include hydrilla

Hydrilla

Hydrilla is an aquatic plant genus, usually treated as containing just one species, Hydrilla verticillata, though some botanists divide it into several species. Synonyms include H. asiatica, H. japonica, H. lithuanica, and H. ovalifolica...

, pondweed

Pondweed

Pondweed refers to many species and genera of aquatic plants and green algae:*Potamogeton, a diverse and worldwide genus*Elodea, found in North America*Aponogeton, in Africa, Asia and Australasia*Groenlandia, a genus of aquatic plants...

, bulrush

Bulrush

-Wetland plants:* Bolboschoenus, a genus in the sedge family * Cyperus, a genus in the sedge family * Scirpus, a genus in the sedge family * Schoenoplectus, a genus in the sedge family...

, waterstar grass

Heteranthera dubia

Heteranthera dubia is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names water stargrass and grassleaf mudplantain. It is native to North and Central America where it is widespread from Canada to Guatemala. It lives submersed in freshwater such as rivers and lakes. It is quite variable in...

, American lotus

Nelumbo lutea

Nelumbo lutea is a species of flowering plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae. Common names include American lotus, yellow lotus, water-chinquapin, and volée. It is native to North America...

, coontail

Ceratophyllum

Ceratophyllum is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants, commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions...

, and southern naiad

Najas guadalupensis

Najas guadalupensis is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name common water nymph. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It is also known on other continents as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. This annual plant grows submerged in aquatic habitat types...

.

Recreational uses

Lake Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park is open for daytime recreational use. Boating and fishing are the most popular recreational uses of the lake.

External links

• Lake Walter E. Long - Texas Parks & Wildlife
• City of Austin Map of lake and surrounding roads