Smithers Lake is an artificial impoundment in

Fort Bend County, Texas Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days. T ...

, collecting water from Dry Creek. It is located south of the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...

, southeast of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and is completely within the city limits of Thompsons. The project is owned and operated by

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

as the cooling-water supply for the

WA Parish Generating Station The W.A. Parish Generating Station is a 3.65-gigawatt (3,653 MW), dual-fired power plant located near Thompsons, Texas. The station occupies a 4,664-acre site near Smithers Lake southwest of Houston in Fort Bend County and consists of two four ...

. It was previously owned by the Houston Lighting and Power Company. Construction was started on August 22, 1956, and was completed on July 1, 1957. Water had already been impounded in a small lake, and the date for beginning of impoundment in the new lake was October 15, 1957.

References

Bodies of water of Fort Bend County, Texas Lakes of Texas {{FortBendCountyTX-geo-stub