Cherry Creek Reservoir Water Level
Cherry Creek Reservoir is at 5,545.85 ft today (Oct 31), 4.15 ft below its 5,550 ft full pool, up 0.02 ft this week.
Colorado · Cherry Creek
Get a text when Cherry Creek Reservoir crosses a level you pick →
Sponsor Cherry Creek Reservoir
Put your marina, real-estate, or local business in front of everyone checking this lake's level. One exclusive sponsor per lake.
Renews automatically each month or year until you cancel. Cancel anytime online. Terms · Manage or cancel · Questions?
Water level history
About Cherry Creek Reservoir
Cherry Creek Reservoir is a reservoir on the Cherry Creek in Colorado, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 5550 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Cherry Creek Reservoir's water level
Cherry Creek Reservoir exists because of floods on a creek that most of the year barely runs. Early on 3 August 1933 the old Castlewood Canyon Dam, about forty miles up Cherry Creek, gave way after a cloudburst, and the flood reached downtown Denver that morning, killing two people. Congress authorized Cherry Creek Dam under the Flood Control Acts of 1941 and 1944, and the Corps of Engineers finished it in 1950, the first of three Corps dams built to cut flood risk to the Denver area. The embankment is rolled earthfill about 14,300 feet long and roughly 140 feet high, 11.4 miles above the creek's mouth at the South Platte. The original design set aside 85,000 acre-feet for Bureau of Reclamation irrigation storage, but no permanent pool collected until a May 1957 storm, and in 1968 Reclamation handed that space over to flood control. The lake people use today began with a request from the governor for 10,000 acre-feet of conservation storage for recreation, raised to 15,000 acre-feet in 1960.
Elevation 5,550 feet is the line that matters. Below it is the conservation pool that Cherry Creek State Park depends on; above it is flood storage the Corps evacuates. The flood control pool tops out at 5,598 feet, where 1975 survey data put the lake at 2,637 acres holding 92,820 acre-feet, and the spillway crest sits at 5,623 with a notch cut down to 5,598. The record is 5,565.8 feet on 3 July 1973. In September 2013 storms pushed the lake to 5,553.4 on the 25th, and in May 2023 about six inches of rain over three days raised it roughly ten feet, the largest single rise since 1965, putting both boat ramps and the swim beach underwater and washing out East Lake View Road in two places. Under a water control plan in effect since April 2017, the Corps releases 7,000 cubic feet per second if the pool reaches 5,590, part of an effort to keep an extreme flood from overtopping the dam.
Below 5,550 the Corps is not drawing the lake down; the level is simply what inflow, evaporation and water rights leave. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says dry years in 2024 and 2025 kept the reservoir from refilling, and the 2025-26 winter brought historically low snowpack, so the 2026 boating season opened at the same height the 2025 season ended. In an average year the lake loses about three vertical feet to evaporation, and when demand exceeds supply, what flows in goes to downstream users with senior rights instead of into storage. CPW acquired extra water in spring 2026 to stretch the season. By 26 August the lake stood at 5,546.22, about three inches above the 5,546.0 mark where CPW said the ramps were at risk of closing. Low water exposes sandbars and a steep drop off the end of the concrete ramps. The lake also matters beyond the park: CPW nets spawning walleye here each March for its hatchery program, and its park page says state record walleye have come from these waters.
Cherry Creek Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Cherry Creek Reservoir's full pool?
5,550 feet. A 1993 Corps of Engineers assessment describes 5,550 as the base of the flood control zone, and a state summary of the project lists it as the minimum multipurpose pool, about 852 surface acres. Water above that level is flood storage the Corps releases downstream, so the lake rarely stays above 5,550 for long. Below it, the level depends on inflow, evaporation and water rights.
Why is Cherry Creek Reservoir so low?
Drought and water rights. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the reservoir could not refill after the dry years of 2024 and 2025, and the 2025-26 winter brought historically low snowpack. The lake loses about three vertical feet a year to evaporation, and when demand exceeds supply, Cherry Creek's flow goes to downstream users with senior rights instead of into storage. The 2026 season began at the level where the 2025 season ended.
At what level do the Cherry Creek boat ramps close?
CPW gave 5,546.0 feet as the critical level for both ramps in 2026. The lake was at 5,546.5 on 31 July and 5,546.22 on 26 August. CPW closes ramps when it can no longer launch its patrol and rescue boats. Hand-launched craft such as kayaks and paddleboards and shore fishing are not affected. Colored tape on the docks marks where the concrete ends; past it is a steep underwater ledge.
What is the record high at Cherry Creek Reservoir?
5,565.8 feet on 3 July 1973, nearly sixteen feet over the base of the flood pool. The most recent high water came in May 2023, when about six inches of rain over three days raised the lake roughly ten feet, CPW's largest single rise since 1965. Before that, September 2013 storms peaked the pool at 5,553.4 feet on 25 September. The gauge panel's recent high and low draw on only a few years of Corps data, well short of the 1973 record.
What happened at Cherry Creek State Park in the May 2023 flood?
The rise submerged the east and west boat ramps, the swim beach, trails and several east side picnic areas. East Lake View Road, the only road through the park, washed out in two places and closed for long repairs, with about 1,700 square feet of road and bank damage up to four feet deep. Only hand-launched boats were allowed until the water dropped, and the east ramp was still closed going into the Fourth of July.
Why does Cherry Creek Reservoir have algae problems?
Nutrients, chiefly phosphorus, washing in from the watershed. The state's control regulation for the reservoir dates to the mid-1980s, and the Cherry Creek Basin Water Quality Authority was created in 1988 to manage it. The current standard is 18 micrograms per liter of chlorophyll a, averaged July through September. By the Authority's 2006 report the standard had been met in only three of the previous fifteen years, and the reservoir still does not meet it.
Is Cherry Creek Dam safe?
The Corps has studied the dam's flood risk for years. Its cutoff trench does not reach bedrock under the deepest alluvium, so relief wells at the downstream toe intercept seepage. A water control plan in effect since 2017 raises releases to 7,000 cubic feet per second at 5,590 feet to reduce the chance of overtopping in an extreme storm. A dam safety modification study finished in 2020 recommended no further structural action.
Other lakes near Cherry Creek Reservoir
- Lemon ReservoirCO
- Chatfield ReservoirCO
- Paonia ReservoirCO
- Blue Mesa ReservoirCO
- Ridgway ReservoirCO
- Vallecito ReservoirCO
See current levels for all 7 Colorado lakes and reservoirs →
Add this gauge to your website
Run a marina, boat rental, guide service, or real-estate site on Cherry Creek Reservoir? Put this free live-level widget on your page — just copy and paste the code: