Colorado River Reservoir Levels
System storage across the seven tracked reservoirs - updated daily from Bureau of Reclamation gauges.
Western Reservoir Conditions·Daily·No. 56··Latest reading
- The seven Colorado River system reservoirs tracked here hold 17.58 million acre-feet as of - 30.2% of their combined 58.15 million acre-foot capacity.
- Lake Mead (26.4% full, 1,038.66 ft) and Lake Powell (21.8% full, 3,516.62 ft) together hold 11.96 million acre-feet - 24.2% of their combined capacity.
- System storage has changed −3.98 million acre-feet over the past year.
- For calendar year 2026, a Level 1 Shortage Condition (2007 Interim Guidelines Section 2.D.1.a) plus DCP contributions govern Lake Mead operations - see shortage tiers.
How the system is plumbed
Storage in this basin is not interchangeable. Flaming Gorge, Blue Mesa and Navajo hold water on the Green, Gunnison and San Juan; that water reaches the mainstem only through Lake Powell. Below Powell the river runs through the Grand Canyon into Lake Mead, then through Mohave and Havasu, where the Central Arizona Project and the Colorado River Aqueduct divert and the delivery to Mexico begins. Mead and Powell are the storage; the rest are regulating or headwater units.
All seven, side by side
| Reservoir | % full | How full | Elevation (ft) | Storage (AF) | 1-yr change | Record low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Mead | 26.4% | Very low | 1,038.66 | 6,885,720 | -18.33 ft | 1,038.65 ft (2026) |
| Lake Powell | 21.8% | Very low | 3,516.62 | 5,074,900 | -29.63 ft | 3,516.62 ft (2026) |
| Lake Mohave | 87.9% | High | 638.94 | 1,646,250 | -0.12 ft | 622.10 ft (1953) |
| Lake Havasu | 90.4% | High | 447.16 | 515,637 | -0.58 ft | 440.65 ft (1950) |
| Flaming Gorge Reservoir | 67.6% | Moderate | 6,008.42 | 2,534,840 | -14.89 ft | 5,966.89 ft (1970) |
| Blue Mesa Reservoir | 18.0% | Very low | 7,414.51 | 148,569 | -56.02 ft | 7,414.51 ft (2026) |
| Navajo Reservoir | 45.9% | Low | 6,009.76 | 778,601 | -12.91 ft | 5,995.66 ft (2004) |
Effectively full 95% and aboveHigh 75–95%Moderate 50–75%Low 30–50%Very low 15–30%Critically low under 15%
These bands describe share of capacity, not drought severity - some reservoirs are held near the top of a narrow band by design. How they are defined.
System storage data
Download the daily combined-storage CSV - total storage across all seven reservoirs for every day on which all seven report, from 1966 to present. Columns: date, total_storage_af, pct_of_combined_capacity.
Reservoir-level context: Lake Mead and Lake Powell carry the storage; the rest are regulating and upper-basin units. Operating rules: current shortage tiers · post-2026 process.
Combined capacity here is the sum of the capacity bases used on each reservoir page (sources on the about page). Reclamation's own "system storage" figures may use different reservoir sets and bases, so percentages can differ slightly.