Burnsville Lake

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Burnsville Dam on the Little Kanawha River in 2004.

Falls Mill area, the upstream end of Burnsville Lake at its normal pool elevation.

Burnsville Lake is both a recreational and flood control reservoir on Little Kanawha River located southeast of Burnsville in Braxton County, West Virginia. Burnsville Lake was authorized by the U.S. Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1938.

Construction of the Burnsville Lake project was begun in the summer of 1972 and the dam was completed in September 1976. The lake project controls the runoff from a drainage area of 165 square miles. The dam is a rockfill embankment rising 84.5 feet above the streambed. Top elevation is 839 feet above sea level, and the crest length 1,400 feet. A gated spillway is located in the left abutment. The outlet works are located in the spillway section. The minimum pool is maintained at elevation 776 with a surface area of 550 acres. The summer pool is at elevation 789 and has a surface area of 968 acres. The flood control pool is at elevation 825 with a surface area of 1,900 acres.