Living on Lake Livingston: TRA Permits Explained

Lake Livingston sits on the Trinity River in Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties. The Trinity River Authority (TRA) built the lake and its dam under a contract with the City of Houston, and still owns and operates both. The dam was completed in 1969.

Your lot is in one county, but TRA's rules for the shoreline and for septic systems near the water apply across all four.

TRA runs the dam to hold the lake at its normal pool elevation of 131 feet above mean sea level when there is no flooding.

It is not a flood-control lake, so it does not sit low waiting for rain. In a flood TRA passes water downstream, and the lake can rise above 131 feet while it does. To allow that, TRA owns a flowage easement around the lake that reaches up to 135 feet above mean sea level at the southern end and 140 feet at the northern end.

In practice, ask two questions about any lot: what is the ground elevation, and where does the flowage easement fall on it? Ask TRA and your surveyor; this page cannot answer that for a specific lot. For live lake level and the dam, see PolkTX's Lake Livingston page.

TRA authorizes structures on its Lake Livingston shoreline. Its Property Owner Permits page lists separate forms for:

• Boathouses and piers
• Bulkheads
• Dredging (which also references a federal Nationwide Permit, NWP-19)
• On-site sewage facilities (septic systems, below)

The forms, and the general permit that goes with them, are on TRA's Property Owner Permits and Licenses page ↗. This page does not list fees, size limits or length limits. TRA sets them, they change, and the current numbers are TRA's to give you.

TRA regulates the construction, operation and maintenance of on-site sewage facilities (OSSFs, or septic systems) inside a Restricted Area and a Water Quality Area around Lake Livingston. If your lot is inside them, your septic permit comes from TRA.

TRA publishes a map of those areas. TRA says the map is approximate and is not a survey, and asks owners to check with the Lake Livingston Project office for an official answer for a specific property.

Aerobic systems carry a deed filing. TRA requires an Affidavit to the Public to be filed at the county courthouse whenever an aerobic treatment unit is installed, or when two or more lots are tied together by one wastewater system. The affidavit is filed with the property deed so that later buyers know about it. If you are buying a lake lot, that filing is something to look for in the deed records.

TRA runs an online portal for Lake Livingston property owners. Through it you can apply for permits, pay, request inspections, submit files, download inspection reports and approved plans, check a permit's status and search existing permits.

That last one is useful before you buy: you can look up what has already been permitted on a lot. Links to the portal are on TRA's Online Permits and Licenses page ↗.

• Is this lot inside TRA's septic jurisdiction, and is the existing system permitted?
• What shoreline structures on this lot are already permitted, and are they in good standing?
• What does the permit I need cost, and what size limits apply?
• If I buy, does anything need to be transferred or re-permitted?
• Where does the flowage easement fall on this lot?

Lake Livingston Project office

Trinity River Authority, Lake Livingston Project
5170 S. FM 1988, Livingston, TX 77351
(936) 365-2292

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Thinking about buying on the lake? Lake Livingston Guide's guide to buying property on Lake Livingston covers which county a lot is in, waterfront versus water access, septic and flood zones.