Lake level guides

• What “full pool” means
  Full pool, flood pool and dead pool: the layers of a reservoir, and why a lake above full pool is not a full lake.
• Why lakes are lowered in winter
  Why many Corps lakes drop several feet every fall on purpose, and which ones are drawn down the most.
• How to read a lake elevation
  What a reading like 1,071.3 ft means, why lakes cannot be compared by elevation, and what NGVD29 and NAVD88 are.
• Will my dock or ramp be dry?
  A tape-measure method to find the elevation of your dock or ramp, and what to watch for when the water is low.
• Who decides how full a lake is
  How the Corps of Engineers and Reclamation decide how much water to hold or release, and why a lake can fall after rain.

For how each number on a lake page is calculated, see how we measure.