Douglas Lake Water Level
Douglas Lake is at 974.16 ft today (Oct 6), 27.84 ft below its 1,002 ft full pool, down 3.36 ft this week.
Tennessee · French Broad River
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Water level history
About Douglas Lake
Douglas Lake is a reservoir on the French Broad River in Tennessee, operated by Tennessee Valley Authority. It has one of the widest seasonal drawdowns of any TVA lake. Its full summer pool sits at 1002 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and update hourly.
Understanding Douglas Lake's water level
The French Broad River backs up behind Douglas Dam for about forty-three miles, and TVA runs the pool through one of the widest seasonal swings in its whole system. Top of the gates sits at 1002 feet, and the guide curve pushes the reservoir up toward a summer target of about 994 feet by around June 1, holding close to that level through Labor Day for recreation. Then the drawdown starts. The flood guide falls from around 991 feet in September to roughly 954 feet by January, and the operating curve's winter floor dips into the upper 940s, a swing of about 44 feet from summer pool, which TVA describes as one of the largest drawdowns of any lake it manages. That empty space above winter pool is deliberate, held in reserve as flood storage for whatever comes down the French Broad, Pigeon and Nolichucky rivers in late winter and spring, and the lake climbs back toward summer pool through April and May as the runoff eases.
Douglas Dam went up faster than almost anything else TVA built. Construction started February 2, 1942, and the powerhouse was finished February 19, 1943, 382 days start to finish using more than 6,000 workers, a pace TVA still calls a record for a dam its size. The rush was aluminum: Alcoa's plant near Knoxville was already TVA's biggest power customer, and wartime planners needed the extra generation to keep aircraft-grade aluminum flowing after Roosevelt called for 50,000 planes a year. The reservoir flooded roughly forty-five square miles of the French Broad valley across Sevier, Jefferson, Cocke and Hamblen counties and pushed about 525 families off land many had farmed for generations, over the objections of Tennessee Senator Kenneth McKellar. Dandridge, one of Tennessee's oldest towns, would have gone under too; instead TVA built an earthen dike to hold the lake back rather than relocate it, and Dandridge still calls it the dike that saved the town.
Douglas carries a reputation among Tennessee anglers that has little to do with scenery. State fisheries biologists rank it the best crappie reservoir in east Tennessee, and its largemouth bass fishery, built on strong natural reproduction, was good enough to land Douglas on Bassmaster's 2024 list of the state's best bass lakes after it missed the cut the year before. The tradeoff for a lake this productive is oxygen: TVA's most recent health survey rated dissolved oxygen poor at both of its monitoring sites, with bottom water dropping under 2 milligrams per liter every summer, which is why TVA runs aeration equipment at the dam to reoxygenate what flows into the French Broad below it. The lake's other defining recent event was Hurricane Helene. Between September 26 and 29, 2024, Douglas rose nearly 22 feet in three days as TVA held back an estimated 182 billion gallons to keep Knoxville and Chattanooga from flooding worse, releasing a record 450,000 gallons a second through the dam at the peak. A floating debris field closed the lake to boaters for weeks afterward, and TWRA still had the Leadvale access ramp near White Pine closed for storm repairs as of January 2026.
Douglas Lake — frequently asked
What is Douglas Lake's full pool elevation?
1002 feet, which is the top of the gates at Douglas Dam and the figure TVA's operating guide treats as full pool. The reservoir is scheduled to reach that level around June 1 and hold close to it through Labor Day. It only gets there when the guide curve and actual rainfall line up; a dry spring can leave the lake several feet short of full even at the height of summer.
Why does Douglas Lake drop so far in winter?
TVA draws it down for flood storage. Under the operating guide, the flood guide curve falls from around 991 feet in September to roughly 954 feet by January, and the reservoir's actual winter floor sits in the upper 940s, a swing of about 44 feet from summer pool. That empty space above the winter pool absorbs runoff from the French Broad, Pigeon and Nolichucky rivers before it reaches Knoxville and Chattanooga.
What is Douglas Lake's record high and low water level?
TVA's own lake-level feed shows a high of 995.13 feet and a low of 952.2 feet, both from 2024, but that is the single calendar year the feed carries for comparison, not a certified all-time record. The 995.13-foot high was actually reached in early June 2024, months before Hurricane Helene raised the lake again that September.
How did Hurricane Helene affect Douglas Lake?
Douglas rose almost 22 feet in three days, from September 26 to 29, 2024, as TVA held back an estimated 182 billion gallons of French Broad, Pigeon and Nolichucky river water to limit flooding downstream in Knoxville and Chattanooga. At the peak, on September 29, TVA released a record 450,000 gallons per second through the dam. A large floating debris field closed the lake to boaters for weeks afterward, and the Leadvale access ramp near White Pine was still closed for storm repairs as of January 2026.
Is Douglas Lake good for fishing?
Tennessee's state biologists rank it the top crappie fishery in east Tennessee, with white crappie dominant over black crappie, and the largemouth bass fishery is strong enough on natural reproduction that Bassmaster put Douglas on its 2024 list of Tennessee's best bass lakes after it missed the cut the year before. Smallmouth fishing has improved recently too, while catfish, sauger, walleye and white bass round out the reservoir.
Why is the water below Douglas Dam sometimes low in oxygen?
Douglas is deep enough, and holds water long enough, that its bottom layer runs short of oxygen every summer; TVA's latest health survey rated dissolved oxygen poor at both of its monitoring sites, with bottom concentrations under 2 milligrams per liter. Because Douglas draws from deep intakes, that low-oxygen water used to pass straight into the French Broad below the dam, which is why TVA installed aeration equipment there under its Reservoir Release Improvement Program.
When was Douglas Dam built, and why?
TVA built it in 382 days, from February 2, 1942 to February 19, 1943, a pace it still calls a record for a dam its size, to add power for Alcoa's aluminum plant near Knoxville during the aircraft production push of World War II. The reservoir displaced about 525 families across four counties, and TVA built an earthen dike to keep the town of Dandridge above water rather than relocate it.
Other lakes near Douglas Lake
- Fort Loudoun LakeTN
- Dale Hollow LakeKY/TN
- Great Falls LakeTN
- Chickamauga LakeTN
- J. Percy Priest LakeTN
- Cherokee LakeTN
See current levels for all 23 Tennessee lakes and reservoirs →
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