Medina Lake is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

on the

Medina River The Medina River is located in south central Texas, United States, in the Medina Valley. It was also known as the Rio Mariano, Rio San Jose, or Rio de Bagres (Catfish river). Its source is in springs in the Edwards Plateau in northwest Band ...

in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is operated by the Bexar/Medina/Atascosa County Agricultural District. Medina Dam was completed in 1913 in a privately financed project, creating the lake to supply

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

water for local agricultural use. Lake Medina is in northeastern Medina County and southeastern Bandera County, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

. It is a

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

-shaped

running west to east. It is 18 miles (29 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide at its broadest point. It is contained by the Medina Dam at the lake's south end. At the time of the dam's construction, it was the largest concrete dam in the country and the fourth largest dam overall. The dam is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The lake is fed by and discharges back into the

, and serves both recreational and irrigation uses. Communities located along the lake are

Mico Mico may refer to: People * Mićo Janić (born 1979), Croatian sprint canoer * Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian revolutionary * Mico Palanca (1978–2019), Filipino actor * Mićo Smiljanić (born 1974), Serbian/Montenegrin footballer * Mi ...

, Lake Medina Shores and Lakehills.

Fish populations

Medina Lake has been stocked with species of fish intended to improve the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish in Medina Lake include

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12–15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with whit ...

hybrid striped bass A hybrid striped bass (''Morone chrysops × M. saxatilis''), also commonly referred to by the portmanteau wiper, is a freshwater hybrid fish between white bass (''Morone chrysops'') and striped bass (''M. saxatilis''). In the United States, wipe ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, and

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

. Due to drought conditions lasting up until July 2015, recreational fish species had disappeared. Plans to restock the lake once levels reach viable levels were put in place. These plans were realized when the lake did reach these levels, which as of October 2, 2016, is 96.6% full.

Future and state of the lake

As part of the

2010–13 Southern United States drought 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

, the lake water levels dropped below 5% capacity. Many cracks, oil drums and a Jeep were visible as a result of low water. Only one public boat ramp remained, located at Red Cove in Mico. A few showers in the Summer of 2013 helped the lake rise to 5.2%, but the dam was reopened in September as many people in the South Side of San Antonio use the lake for a water source. Many businesses have closed in the area, many residents have left and Lakehills has become somewhat of a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. Heavy rainfall in the region as of May 2015 brought the levels above 46% capacity. At that time, Medina Lake was about 28 feet low, down from 90 feet low mere months before. Due to heavy rains on the Medina River basin and the lake itself in May 2016, Medina Lake was 100% full and 1.5 feet above its conservation pool as of June 1, 2016. As of July 2024, the last time the lake was considered to be at full capacity was on July 7, 2019. Since then, the lake levels have begun to decline once again. As of July 2023, Medina Lake was the lowest it’s been since 2015, only being filled to about 5% capacity, compared to 12% capacity in 2022. This is due to constant drought and irrigation as many experts claim it may take years of rain to replenish the reservoir. Due to declining lake levels, many area farmers have to turned to using groundwater for irrigation. In June 2024, Medina Lake had dropped down to 2.4% capacity, with Lakehills and the surrounding areas suffering an

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

as a result along with depreciated home values and a rise in homelessness.

References

{{authority control Reservoirs in Texas Bodies of water of Bandera County, Texas Bodies of water of Medina County, Texas