Foss Reservoir, also known as Foss Lake, is in

Custer County, Oklahoma Custer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,513. Its county seat is Arapaho. The county was named in honor of General George Armstrong Custer. Custer County comprises the Wea ...

on the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...

, about west of

Clinton, Oklahoma Clinton is a city in Custer and Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 8,521 at the time of the 2020 census. History The community began in 1899 when two men, J.L. Avant and E.E. Blake, decided to locate a town i ...

. The reservoir was constructed during 1958–1961 by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The project was known originally as the Washita Basin Project. The lake and dam were named for the community of Foss, Oklahoma, about south of the site. Their primary purpose is to regulate flow of the river and to provide water for the cities of Bessie, Clinton, Cordell and Hobart. It is western Oklahoma's largest lake"Foss Lake, Oklahoma." Retrieved July 2, 2013.
/ref> and lies entirely within Foss State Park.

Description

The reservoir has a surface area of and a shoreline of . The capacity of the reservoir is . The reservoir serves a catchment area of . The reservoir has a mean depth of and a maximum depth of .

Foss Dam

Dam construction began in October, 1958. The dam is high, wide (at the crest) and long.

Foss State Park

Foss State Park encompasses of land and contains 8 campgrounds, swimming beach, 6 boat ramps, a playground, marina, and a restaurant. It also has of equestrian and multi-use trails. Foss State Park is often mentioned as a target for sale or closure to help close the state's current budget deficit. Already the state has sold a herd of bison as "surplus property." The bison had recently been moved into Foss State Park from another location in western Oklahoma."Herd of bison from Foss State Park up for auction on state’s surplus website." KOCO 5 News. May 9, 2018.
(Video) Accessed July 18, 2018.

Water treatment

The water quality in Lake Foss is extremely hard. The Bureau of Reclamation built one of the first

electrodialysis Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis ...

plants in the United States to process the water before it is delivered to users. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality constructed a new, updated plant to replace the original in 2002.Wayne Boothe, "Foss." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' Retrieved July 2, 2013.
/ref> The new plant, built by Ionics, Inc., would also increase production of potable water for its municipal customers from 3 million to 4.5 million U.S. gallons per day."Oklahoma reservoir expands water desalination facility with Ionics." ''Water & Wastes Digest''. November 6, 2002.
Accessed July 17, 2018. Water is transported from the dam to consumers via three pumping stations and of aqueducts.

References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Custer County, Oklahoma Reservoirs in Oklahoma Infrastructure completed in 1961 Bodies of water of Custer County, Oklahoma