Colorado River (Texas)

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Map of the Colorado River and associated watershed.

Lake Austin on Texas' Colorado River.

For other uses, see Colorado River (disambiguation).

The Colorado River is the 18th longest river in the United States.^[1] and the longest river with both its source and mouth within Texas; however its drainage basin and some of its usually dry tributaries do extend into New Mexico. The 862 mile long river^[1] flows generally southeast from Dawson County through Marble Falls, Austin, Bastrop, Smithville, La Grange, Columbus, and Bay City before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Matagorda Bay.^[2]

The Colorado River, which means "colored red", was frequently confused with the not too distant to the north Brazos River by early Spanish explorers.^[2] It is this confusion as well as an alleged mapping error that is believed to have led to its misnaming. The river is an important source of water for farming, cities, and electrical power production. Major man-made reservoirs on the river include Lake Marble Falls, Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Travis, Lake Austin, and Town Lake in Austin. Collectively, these lakes are known as the Highland Lakes. In addition to power plants operating on each of the major lakes, waters of the Colorado are used for cooling the South Texas Nuclear Project, near Bay City.

Flood control and use of the Colorado River is managed by three agencies established by the Texas Legislature, the Upper Colorado River Authority, Central Colorado River Authority, and Lower Colorado River Authority. There are 11 major reservoirs along the Colorado River.^[3]