How in the world does one build a brand new lake? East Texas is about to find out.

And how did it get its name?

The lake has been in the works since the 1970's, according to a news release, and all of the stars have finally lined up so it can become a reality.

It's Lake Columbia, and it will be about 15 miles long, about 5 miles southeast of Jacksonville. Don't back the boat into it. It's a water supply lake, and customers in Whitehouse, Jacksonville, Troup and Rusk will benefit from it.

If you want all the juicy details about how the deal came to be, the Tyler Morning Telegraph has the story. But all of the approvals have been made to start filling up the land with water, and the lake will become a reality before long. Now we have another reason to do that rain dance.

One other detail about the lake, you may remember hearing some buzz that the lake was initially going to be called Lake Eastex. But that changed along the way with Senate Bill 1362 that was approved in 2003. The name was formally changed then from "Lake Eastex" to "Lake Columbia" in honor of the crew of the space shuttle Columbia.

It was 2003 that the space shuttle Columbia broke apart and scattered remnants over East Texas. Now we'll have a permanent tribute.

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