Lake Braddock

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Lake Braddock
Lake Braddock.jpg
Lake Braddock in winter
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Red pog.svg
Lake Braddock
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Red pog.svg
Lake Braddock
Location Fairfax County, Virginia
Coordinates 38°48′00″N77°16′29″W / 38.800113°N 77.274706°W / 38.800113; -77.274706
Type reservoir
Primary inflows Pohick Creek
Primary outflows Pohick Creek
Basin  countries United States
Surface area19 acres (7.7 ha)
Surface elevation300 ft (90 m) [1]

Lake Braddock is a reservoir in the community of Burke in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Lake Braddock is created by an impoundment on a tributary stream of Pohick Creek, itself a tributary of the Potomac River.

In 1969, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Northern Virginia Soil District signed contracts which allowed the construction of the dam impounding the tributary of the Pohick creek in Burke. [2] The $138,500 cost of the dam, intended as the first of eight to control soil erosion and flooding in the Pohick watershed, was split between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Yeonas Development Corporation, the latter of which intended to build a 1000-unit development on the surrounding 400 acres (160 ha). [2]

The ultimate cost of the dam creating the 19 acres (7.7 ha) lake was $93,000 to the U.S. Government and $104,000 to Yeonas. [3]

The fact that the lake included no public recreation facilities despite being financed with public money was the subject of controversy, and led to the amendment of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act in 1972 to require public access to all such facilities constructed in the future. [3] [4]

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Braddock
  2. 1 2 "Pact Signed for Pohick Watershed Dam". The Washington Post. May 16, 1969. ProQuest   147683153.
  3. 1 2 "U.S. Funded Lakes Closed to Public, Hill Report Says". The Washington Post. October 26, 1971. ProQuest   148154962.
  4. Edwards, Paul G. (April 24, 1972). "U.S. Expands Public's Use Of Reservoirs". The Washington Post. ProQuest   148338665.