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Waterways

The state of Texas has over 80,000 miles of waterways. With 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers.

The six largest rivers in Texas are:

  • The Rio Grande [1,254 miles]
  • The Red River 1290 [680 miles are in Texas]
  • The Brazos [840 miles]
  • The Pecos River [926 miles most of which is in New Mexico]
  • The Colorado River [865 miles are in Texas making it the longest river in Texas]
  • The Trinity River [550 miles]

All of Texas’s waterways drain into the Mississippi River, the Texas Gulf Coast or the Rio Grande River.

The four largest lakes in Texas include:

  • The Toledo Bend Reservoir [with surface area of 185,000 acres and has a shoreline that stretches for 1,200 miles]
  • The Sam Rayburn Reservoir [has a surface area of 114,500 acres and is the largest lake located completely in Texas]
  • Lake Livingston [with 83,000 acres and has an average depth of 55 feet]
  • Lake Texoma, [surface area of 89,000 and lies between Texas and Oklahoma]

That’s Texas by Numbers, Texas Waterways!