Lemon Reservoir Water Level
Lemon Reservoir is at 8,133.41 ft today (Oct 30), 14.59 ft below its 8,148 ft full pool, down 0.44 ft this week.
Colorado · Florida River
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Water level history
About Lemon Reservoir
Lemon Reservoir is a reservoir on the Florida River in Colorado, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Its full summer pool sits at 8148 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Lemon Reservoir's water level
Lemon Reservoir is the storage piece of the Bureau of Reclamation's Florida Project, a participating unit of the Colorado River Storage Project. The dam sits on the Florida River about 14 miles northeast of Durango, a zoned earthfill embankment 284 feet high and 1,360 feet long, named for Charles H. Lemon, who owned the damsite. Reclamation awarded the construction contract on June 30, 1961, finished in December 1963, and delivered the first irrigation water in 1964. Full, the lake is about three miles long and half a mile wide, covering 622 acres at elevation 8,148 feet and holding 40,146 acre-feet, of which 39,030 are active storage. None of it is piped from the dam. Releases run down the natural river channel to the Florida Canal headgate about 7.5 miles below the dam and the Florida Farmers Ditch diversion about 8 miles below, which spread it by gravity across the Florida Mesa, where supplemental water reaches up to 19,450 acres of mostly hay, grain and pasture ground. The Florida Water Conservancy District, organized in the La Plata County Courthouse on July 20, 1948, took over operation of the dam on January 1, 1968; Reclamation still owns it.
The level follows one simple cycle: snowmelt from April through July fills the lake, and irrigation releases pull it down through late summer and fall. Daily elevations go back to December 13, 1963. In 38 of the 60 years since 1966 the annual peak came in June, with the rest in May or July, and the median drop from that spring peak to the later low is about 40 feet. In 36 of those 60 years the lake came within two feet of 8,148. The highest reading on record is 8,148.38 feet on July 7, 1980. The lowest since the first filling is 8,043.25 feet on August 3, 2003. The gauge panel on this page covers only recent years, so its high and low come from that shorter window. That low was the second half of a two year drought: in 2002 the lake never rose above 8,101.10 feet (May 1) and sank to 8,046.87 by September 5, then the 2003 runoff was too small to recover. A thin snowpack sets the year: in 2018 the peak was only 8,118.51 feet on May 13, and in 2021 it was 8,110.27 on June 8 before falling to 8,082.32 by July 20.
Fire changed how the dam is managed. The Missionary Ridge fire burned from June 9 to July 14, 2002, across slopes above the lake, and the concern afterward was that ash and debris flows would bury the dam's intake. Crews treated the steep drainage above the dam with log erosion barriers at two to six times the usual density, straw mulch crimped into the soil, heavy seeding, 13 check dams and three debris racks. The U.S. Geological Survey found sediment reaching the reservoir was nearly eliminated, while a similar untreated basin about a mile south produced two debris flows totaling roughly 3,700 cubic yards. In spring 2005 nearly two dozen shallow landslides moved on the burned hillside along the east bank of the river about two thirds of a mile below the reservoir, threatening homes, the county road and, indirectly, the dam. In the winter of 2016 to 2017 Reclamation spent $1.3 million replacing the four original 1963 high pressure gates inside the dam, cutting the river below to about 3 cubic feet per second while the work was done.
Lemon Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Lemon Reservoir's full pool elevation?
8,148 feet. Reclamation lists that as the top of the active conservation pool and the maximum water surface, with 40,146 acre-feet stored and 622 acres of surface. The top of the inactive pool is 8,023 feet and dead storage begins at 8,005, so the 39,030 acre-feet of active storage sit in the 125 feet between 8,023 and 8,148. The dam crest is 8,167 feet, and the streambed at the dam is 7,952.
What is Lemon Reservoir's record high level?
8,148.38 feet on July 7, 1980. That summer the lake stayed above 8,148.2 feet from July 4 through July 10. Readings a fraction of a foot over 8,148 also came in 1979 and 1982. In good water years since 2000, including 2001, 2005, 2015 to 2017, 2019 and 2023, it has topped out between about 8,147 and 8,148 feet, typically in June.
What is the lowest Lemon Reservoir has ever been?
8,043.25 feet on August 3, 2003, about 105 feet below full pool and roughly 20 feet above the top of the inactive pool. It followed 2002, when the lake peaked at only 8,101.10 feet and hit 8,046.87 on September 5. The only lower readings in the record are from December 1963, when the newly finished reservoir was first filling from about 8,019 feet.
Why is Lemon Reservoir so low?
Its only real inflow is the snowmelt of a roughly 69 square mile watershed, and its job is to release that water to Florida Mesa irrigators through the summer. A weak snowpack means a low spring peak, and the irrigation drawdown still follows. In 2018 the lake peaked at 8,118.51 feet, fell to about 8,061.5 by late August, and in early October held about 5,670 acre-feet, close to 15 percent of capacity.
When does Lemon Reservoir fill up?
Snowmelt from April through July supplies most of the year's inflow, followed by summer and fall thunderstorms. In 38 of the 60 years since 1966 the lake peaked in June, with the rest in May or July. After the peak, irrigation releases draw it down; the median drop from the spring high to the later low is about 40 feet, and the low usually lands in late summer or fall.
Does Lemon Reservoir supply Durango's drinking water?
Not directly. Durango holds senior rights on the Florida River and normally fills its city reservoir near Fort Lewis College in winter through a nine mile gravity pipeline from the river below the dam, switching to the Animas River when needed. During the 2016 to 2017 gate replacement, when the river dropped to about 3 cubic feet per second, the city ran on the Animas alone. Lemon's stored water is contracted for Florida Mesa irrigation.
Where is the boat ramp at Lemon Reservoir?
The concrete ramp is at the north end of Miller Creek Campground on the east shore. Recreation facilities were built by the National Park Service and are run by the San Juan National Forest. Miller Creek Campground is first come, first served. Local visitor guides list kokanee salmon along with rainbow and brown trout in the lake.
Other lakes near Lemon Reservoir
- Paonia ReservoirCO
- Cherry Creek ReservoirCO
- Ridgway ReservoirCO
- Chatfield ReservoirCO
- Vallecito ReservoirCO
- Blue Mesa ReservoirCO
See current levels for all 7 Colorado lakes and reservoirs →
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