Mineral Wells Area News

A newly released analysis confirms that the Lake Palo Pinto watershed produces sufficient runoff to fully support the future Turkey Peak Reservoir.

The analysis was conducted by Palo Pinto Municipal Water District’s General Manager Howard Huffman and finalized July 1, 2025 to determine a volumetric flow study of measured water discharging over the Lake Palo Pinto spillway between May 1 and June 30, 2025.

Over the 56-day period, runoff totaled 29,792.42 acre-feet—equal to 9.71 billion gallons. This volume represents 131.96% of Turkey Peak Reservoir’s full storage capacity, based on data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at 15-minute intervals.

“Using high-resolution quarter-hourly data provided by USGS, we were able to precisely quantify how much water left the lake through the spillway,” Huffman said. “Even without additional rainfall, the amount discharged this spring alone would have been enough to fill Turkey Peak more than once.”

Water spilled continuously for 49 days and partially for another 6 days, with the highest flow recorded on June 12, 2025, at 2:15 p.m. The study applied open channel flow equations for broad-crested weirs—consistent with industry standards—to calculate discharge volume from elevation changes.

Importantly, the study focused only on spillway discharge and did not account for:

• Existing water stored in Lake Palo Pinto
• Additional watershed runoff captured by Turkey Peak
• Potential blending from the Brazos River

This discharge event ranks as the third-largest this century, trailing only the major inflows of 2016 and 2021. The findings reinforce the reliability of the watershed to support long-term water supply planning across the region.

The USGS Data can be found here.

For more information on the Turkey Peak Reservoir project and ongoing water resource planning, visit www.ppcmwd1.org.