Lake Conroe Water Level
Lake Conroe is at 199.88 ft today (Oct 6), 1.12 ft below its 201 ft full pool, up 0.34 ft this week.
Texas · San Jacinto River
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Water level history
About Lake Conroe
Lake Conroe is a reservoir on the San Jacinto River in Texas, operated by San Jacinto River Authority. Its full summer pool sits at 201 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the Texas Water Development Board and update daily.
Understanding Lake Conroe's water level
Lake Conroe sits on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, built as a joint venture between the San Jacinto River Authority and the City of Houston. The earthfill dam, about 2.2 miles long and rising eighty-two feet above the old riverbed, was finished in January 1973 and the lake filled by that October. Its water right is split two to one: Houston holds 66,667 acre-feet a year of the 100,000 acre-foot annual permit and SJRA holds 33,333, and Houston covers two thirds of the dam's operating costs to match its larger share. Normal conservation pool is 201 feet above mean sea level, the figure this site tracks, though the Texas Water Development Board separately lists 207 feet as the reservoir's maximum design water surface. At conservation pool the lake holds about 412,200 acre-feet, drains roughly 445 square miles of West Fork watershed, and covers about 19,640 acres, with roughly five thousand of those acres lying inside the Sam Houston National Forest. Releases pass through five radial tainter gates, each forty feet wide and thirty feet tall, that open once the lake tops 201 feet.
The lake's biggest swing on record came during Hurricane Harvey. On August 28, 2017, Lake Conroe crested at 206.24 feet, breaking the prior record of 205.58 feet set by an October 1994 flood, and SJRA opened the gates to fourteen feet each, more than double the six feet used in 1994, releasing water at a peak of 79,141 cubic feet per second. That surge moved down the West Fork into Lake Houston and contributed to flooding in Kingwood and Humble; homeowners later sued SJRA over the releases, and on October 16, 2025 the Fourteenth Court of Appeals ruled the authority immune from those takings claims. After Harvey, and at Governor Greg Abbott's direction, SJRA adopted a policy of lowering Lake Conroe below 201 feet each spring and fall, targeting around 200 feet or lower during the rainiest months and hurricane season to bank extra flood storage. The Lake Conroe Association sued SJRA and the City of Houston over that lowering in 2021; a Montgomery County judge dismissed the suit with prejudice. By 2024 the fixed seasonal schedule had shifted to a more flexible Active Storm Management approach, with drawdowns tied to storm forecasts rather than a set calendar.
The lowest the lake has gone on record is 192.68 feet, on December 2, 2011, during a multi year drought; that broke the previous low of 196.02 feet from January 1989, and Lake Conroe had already gone nearly four years without reaching full pool before that drought pushed it lower still. Groundwater declines around the Woodlands and Conroe led the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District to mandate cuts in pumping, and SJRA built a $479.8 million surface water treatment plant and pipeline that began delivering treated Lake Conroe water to the Woodlands and Conroe in 2015. The lake has also been a long running hydrilla battleground: non sterile grass carp stocked by the hundreds of thousands in 1981 and 1982 wiped out its vegetation within two years, hydrilla returned in 1996, and by January 2008 it covered more than 2,000 acres before a shift to sterile triploid carp cut it to two and a half acres by that June. Largemouth bass now account for the largest share of angler effort, with a lake record of 15.93 pounds caught in January 2009, alongside a stocked hybrid striped bass fishery and a large blue and channel catfish population.
Lake Conroe — frequently asked
What is Lake Conroe's full pool level?
This site uses 201 feet above mean sea level, the lake's normal conservation pool and the elevation the San Jacinto River Authority manages to under most conditions. The Texas Water Development Board also lists a separate 207 foot figure as the reservoir's maximum design water surface, the level SJRA's flowage easement allows before water starts flooding land around the lake, so you may see both numbers depending on the source.
What is Lake Conroe's record high water level?
206.24 feet on August 28, 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, according to SJRA's own records. That broke the previous record of 205.58 feet set by an October 1994 flood. To hold that back, SJRA opened all five spillway gates to fourteen feet each and released water at a peak of 79,141 cubic feet per second, more than double the release rate used in 1994. The gauge panel on this page reads slightly lower, 205.91 feet, because it comes from the site's own data feed rather than SJRA's official record.
What is Lake Conroe's record low water level?
192.68 feet above mean sea level, reached on December 2, 2011, in the middle of a severe multi year drought. That broke the previous record low of 196.02 feet from January 1989. The gauge panel here shows 192.72 feet for 2011, a few hundredths off SJRA's official figure, for the same reason. The lake had already gone almost four years without reaching full pool before that drought pushed it to the new low.
Why does SJRA lower Lake Conroe every spring and fall?
After Hurricane Harvey's 2017 flooding, and at Governor Greg Abbott's direction, SJRA began deliberately lowering the lake below its 201 foot pool each spring and fall, the rainiest stretches and hurricane season, to open extra storage before storms hit. The fixed schedule, which took the lake down to around 200 feet or lower, has since evolved into a more flexible Active Storm Management approach tied to storm forecasts rather than fixed calendar dates.
Did lake residents fight the seasonal lowering?
Yes. The Lake Conroe Association sued SJRA and the City of Houston in 2021 to try to stop the seasonal lowering, arguing it hurt lake residents and property owners. A Montgomery County judge dismissed the suit with prejudice. Separately, homeowners downstream who blamed SJRA's Harvey releases for flooding their homes lost their own case when the Fourteenth Court of Appeals ruled on October 16, 2025 that SJRA has governmental immunity from those claims.
Who owns the water in Lake Conroe?
The State of Texas owns the water, but under SJRA's permit the City of Houston holds rights to 66,667 acre-feet a year, two thirds of the 100,000 acre-foot annual allocation, and SJRA holds the remaining 33,333 acre-feet for Montgomery County. Houston also pays two thirds of the dam's operating costs to match its larger share, an arrangement that dates back to the 1973 joint venture that built the reservoir.
Is hydrilla still a problem on Lake Conroe?
Less than it once was. Non sterile grass carp stocked in 1981 and 1982 stripped the lake bare within two years, and after hydrilla returned in the 1990s and spread past 2,000 acres by 2008, Texas Parks and Wildlife's switch to sterile triploid carp cut it to two and a half acres that June. Hydrilla reemerged in July 2020, and TPWD keeps a small triploid carp population, around 1,100 fish as of 2019, to manage regrowth without repeating the 1980s die off.
Flow released below Lake Conroe
This gauge reads the water leaving the dam, which is the number to check for fishing, paddling and downstream conditions. Live flow is tracked on riverlvl.com.
Other lakes near Lake Conroe
- Cooper Lake (Jim Chapman Lake)TX
- Canyon LakeTX
- Lake Fork ReservoirTX
- Lake BuchananTX
- Lake GeorgetownTX
- Benbrook LakeTX
See current levels for all 27 Texas lakes and reservoirs →
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