Boca Reservoir Water Level
Boca Reservoir is at 5,563.94 ft today (Oct 30), 41.06 ft below its 5,605 ft full pool, down 1.66 ft this week.
California · Little Truckee River
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Water level history
About Boca Reservoir
Boca Reservoir is a reservoir on the Little Truckee River in California, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Its full summer pool sits at 5605 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Boca Reservoir's water level
Boca Reservoir sits on the Little Truckee River about six miles northeast of Truckee, just above the point where the Little Truckee meets the Truckee about six miles from the Nevada line. Reclamation built the dam between 1937 and 1939 as the Truckee Storage Project, a zoned earthfill embankment 1,629 feet long with its crest at 5,615 feet, and handed it to the Washoe County Water Conservation District to run in January 1942. The water is Nevada water. The district's state license allows 40,850 acre-feet a year to be stored, roughly October through June, for irrigation and domestic use inside the district, and Reclamation describes the project as serving about 29,000 acres in the Truckee Meadows around Reno and Sparks. Under the 1935 Truckee River Agreement the first 25,000 acre-feet in Boca is stored ahead of Truckee Canal diversions. Stampede Reservoir sits upstream on the same river, so Stampede releases pass down the Little Truckee and into Boca before reaching the Truckee.
The level follows a hard annual cycle. Boca and Lake Tahoe are the two reservoirs released to keep the Truckee at the Floriston rates, its flow targets at Floriston, whenever natural runoff falls short. In a normal year that means steady drafts from midsummer on, and the State Water Board describes Boca's primary function as flood control and storage of Floriston rate water. Flood control is the second reason it drops. Flood rules require 30,000 acre-feet of empty space on the Little Truckee each winter, building up through October and held from November 1 to April 10; Boca carries 8,000 acre-feet of it and Stampede the other 22,000. Reclamation's elevation table puts the top of active conservation storage at 5,596.37 feet and the top of the joint use pool at 5,605 feet, with two radial gates on a spillway whose crest is 5,589 feet, passing 8,000 cubic feet per second at full pool.
Before the reservoir there was a town. Boca, Spanish for mouth, was founded in 1868 as a Central Pacific construction camp where the Little Truckee meets the main river, and a small dam built there around that time made a pond for ice. Horses pulled saws across the frozen surface, and the blocks went by rail to cool the Comstock mines, where underground heat ran past 140 degrees. The Boca Brewing Company opened in 1876, made about 30,000 barrels a year, was served at the 1883 Paris World's Fair, and burned in January 1893. Union Ice quit in 1927 and the town was taken apart. Concrete icehouse footings still sit beside the railroad tracks along an interpretive trail. The dam itself has needed work: its crest was modified in 1965 for larger floods, and in 2019 and 2020 Reclamation added a downstream stability berm and a shear key because loose sand and gravel in the foundation could liquefy in a strong earthquake.
Boca Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Boca Reservoir's full pool?
5,605 feet, which Reclamation lists as the top of the joint use pool. Below that, 5,596.37 feet is the top of active conservation storage, and the gated spillway crest is at 5,589 feet. The dam crest is 5,615 feet. Capacity is about 40,900 acre-feet, and the water right allows 40,850 acre-feet to be stored each year. The 2018 dam safety study, which uses a newer vertical datum, gives normal maximum as 5,609 feet.
Why is Boca Reservoir so low in late summer and fall?
Two reasons. Boca and Lake Tahoe supply the Floriston rates, the Truckee River flow targets set under the 1935 Truckee River Agreement, so Boca gets drafted once snowmelt fades. Then flood rules take over: starting October 1 the Little Truckee reservoirs must open up 30,000 acre-feet of space, 8,000 of it in Boca, and hold it until April 10. Storage under the water right runs roughly October through June.
When does Boca Reservoir refill?
Refill comes with spring snowmelt. Flood space must be kept open from November 1 through April 10, so Boca cannot fill through winter even in a wet year. After April 10 the district can capture runoff off the Little Truckee and Stampede releases toward the 5,605 foot joint use pool. The licensed storage season ends about July 1, and in drier years the drawdown for Floriston rates can start before the lake ever tops out.
What are the highest and lowest levels on the gauge?
The recent gauge window on this page covers about six years. Within it the high was 5,604.84 feet and the low 5,546.12 feet, both in 2022, a spread of nearly 59 feet in one year. Those are not all-time records; the gauge history here does not reach back to 1939. They do show how far the late season Floriston draft and flood space requirement can pull Boca down from full pool.
Was Boca Dam rebuilt or modified?
Yes. Reclamation modified the crest in 1965 to handle larger floods, and a 6.0 earthquake in 1966 caused minor cracking in the concrete structures. Later studies found loose, liquefiable alluvium in the foundation. From May 2019 to October 2020 crews built a shear key and a downstream stability berm and modified the spillway crest. During summer 2019 the lake was held near half capacity, about 28 feet below maximum, and the road across the dam closed until October 19, 2020.
Who owns the water in Boca Reservoir?
The Washoe County Water Conservation District holds the California license, License 3723 with a 1926 priority, and operates the dam for Reclamation. The license limits use to irrigation of about 30,000 acres and domestic use within the district in Nevada. Releases are scheduled under the Truckee River Agreement and the Truckee River Operating Agreement signed in 2008, which is why the level tracks river demand downstream rather than lake use.
What fish live in Boca Reservoir?
Reclamation's 2018 environmental assessment lists brown trout, coastal rainbow trout and Lahontan cutthroat trout in the reservoir. The state plants catchable rainbows in late summer, with recent records showing 1,000 pounds in September 2023 and 500 pounds in August 2024. Signal crayfish were introduced around the turn of the twentieth century.
Other lakes near Boca Reservoir
- Camanche ReservoirCA
- Black Butte LakeCA
- Don Pedro ReservoirCA
- Lake BerryessaCA
- Eastman LakeCA
- Tulloch ReservoirCA
See current levels for all 29 California lakes and reservoirs →
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