Lake Tanglewood
Randall County, Texas258 acresView mapDirections
TCEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Tanglewood. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 20 ft max depth
- Limited data
Lake Tanglewood in Randall County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 65.5 µg/L. Surface area: 258 acres.
Lake Tanglewood is a 258-acre highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Randall County, Texas with an estimated average depth of about 20 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, TCEQ, last sampled 2024-09-18. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Lake Tanglewood covers about 260 acres in Randall County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Lake Tanglewood on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Tanglewood is safe to swim in today is a call for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lake Tanglewood
These are the measurements TCEQ publishes for Lake Tanglewood, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 2.3 ft of visibility. Chlorophyll-a 65.5 µg/L. TSI 68.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 65.5µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 68 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Lake Tanglewood
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~20 ft est.
Surface area
258 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Texas has not published bathymetry for Lake Tanglewood.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2,831 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
3,415 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Lake Tanglewood
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Tanglewood in Randall County, Texas — live availability and prices for your trip. Switch the map to Satellite to see the lake and how close each stay is to the water. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Lake Tanglewood are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Tanglewood
Prices for Oct 30–Nov 1, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.
Planning a whole trip? See where to stay at Texas’s top lakes →
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Fishing Lake Tanglewood
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2023–2024). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.5 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-20.3 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Tanglewood is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Tanglewood Dam (completed 1965), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Prarie Dog Town Fork Red River; earth-type dam, 83 ft tall and 1,500 ft long.
- Surface area
- 258 ac
- Normal storage
- 4,910 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 15,850 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 832.7 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- LAKE TANGLEWOOD INC
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID TX03587 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Randall County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Tanglewood
Where is Lake Tanglewood?
- Lake Tanglewood is a lake in Randall County, Texas. Its water-quality measurements are published by TCEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lake Tanglewood?
- Lake Tanglewood in Randall County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 65.5 µg/L. Surface area: 258 acres.
Is Lake Tanglewood safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Tanglewood?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Tanglewood, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 20 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate. The lake covers 258 acres.
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Where this data comes from
14 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
TCEQMAIN14 samples · 2020–2024
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)