Pactola Reservoir Water Level
Pactola Reservoir is at 4,559.27 ft today (Oct 31), 20.93 ft below its 4,580.2 ft full pool, up 0.31 ft this week.
South Dakota · Rapid Creek
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Water level history
About Pactola Reservoir
Pactola Reservoir is a reservoir on the Rapid Creek in South Dakota, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It's the largest and deepest reservoir in the Black Hills. Its full summer pool sits at 4580.2 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Pactola Reservoir's water level
Pactola is the water supply reservoir for Rapid City. The Bureau of Reclamation began the earthfill dam on Rapid Creek on November 25, 1952, finished it on August 15, 1956, and started delivering water on May 1, 1958. It serves municipal and industrial users in Rapid City, including Ellsworth Air Force Base, irrigates about 8,900 acres in the Rapid Valley, and provides flood protection along the creek. The number to watch is 4,580.2 feet, the top of the active conservation pool, which holds about 56,000 acre-feet. Above that sits roughly 43,000 acre-feet of exclusive flood storage up to 4,621.5 feet, the crest of an uncontrolled 240-foot concrete spillway in the left abutment. Reclamation runs Pactola on a pooled storage basis with Deerfield Reservoir, so the city and the irrigators draw on the two lakes as one account. In a normal year the lake peaks in May or June near full pool and sags through late summer and fall, when inflow drops and releases continue.
Level swings here are driven by dry years stacking up. After filling for the first time in July 1963, the lake dropped hard in the late 1980s drought and bottomed at 4,531.5 feet in January 1991, about 49 feet below full, the lowest reading since first fill. A second run of dry years brought it to 4,539.3 feet on January 3, 2008. Both times it climbed more than 30 feet within six months or so once inflow picked up. In 2026 it happened again: the lake started the summer about nine feet down, inflow in August fell as low as 12 cubic feet per second, and Rapid City raised its drought status to alert and made watering restrictions year-round. By late September the pool stood near 4,558 feet, about 22 feet below full and 70 percent of conservation storage. That is below the end of both boat ramps. Reclamation lists 4,569 feet as the minimum launch level at the south ramp and 4,571 feet at the north ramp.
Under the water lies the old mining camp of Pactola. Miners founded it in 1875 as Camp Crook, and in 1878 H. N. Maguire gave it the name of the Pactolus, the gold-bearing river of ancient Lydia. By late 1876 about 300 miners worked the area, but the cost of bringing in more water wore the camp down until it was largely abandoned. The lake also holds the state lake trout record. Aaron Jones of Rapid City set the state lake trout record here on January 23, 2013, a 30-pound, 41-inch fish taken through the ice. The 2024 state survey netted lake trout from 22 to 31 inches, and that year the state stocked more than 21,000 rainbows averaging two pounds, plus brown trout and more than 72,000 young kokanee salmon. Zebra mussel larvae were confirmed in July 2022, so every boat, including kayaks and paddleboards, must be cleaned, drained and dried.
Pactola Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Pactola Reservoir's full pool elevation?
4,580.2 feet, the top of Reclamation's active conservation pool, where the lake holds about 55,970 acre-feet. Water above that is flood storage, which reaches up to 4,621.5 feet, the crest of the uncontrolled spillway, and holds another 43,000 acre-feet or so. The dam crest itself is at 4,655 feet. Reclamation's percent full figure is measured against the 4,580.2 foot level, so a reading above 100 percent means water is sitting in the flood pool.
Why is Pactola Reservoir so low?
Inflow collapsed. By summer 2026 the Black Hills had seen more than a year of below average precipitation and almost no snowpack, July inflow ran about 30 percent of normal, and August inflow fell as low as 12 cubic feet per second against a monthly mean near 50. Releases for Rapid City and downstream water users kept going, and the lake dropped three to six inches a day at times. By late September it was about 22 feet below full.
What is the lowest Pactola Reservoir has ever been?
Since the lake first filled in 1963, the low is 4,531.5 feet in January 1991, about 49 feet below full pool, at the end of the late 1980s drought. The next deepest was 4,539.3 feet on January 3, 2008. Readings in the 4,470s from the early 1960s were taken while the new reservoir was still filling and are not true drought lows. The Recent low in the gauge panel covers only the last few years, so it does not reach this mark.
What is Pactola Reservoir's record high level?
4,589.43 feet on June 29, 2015, a little more than nine feet into the flood pool. The wet spring of 2019 came close, cresting at 4,588.63 feet on June 5. Even those peaks used only a fraction of the flood storage, which runs up to 4,621.5 feet before water would go over the spillway. The Recent high in the gauge panel on this page covers only the last few years of readings, which is why it shows a lower figure.
Did Pactola Dam cause or stop the 1972 Rapid City flood?
No. Pactola held. On June 9, 1972, the heaviest rain fell near Nemo and Sheridan Lake, averaging 10 inches over 60 square miles, while about three inches had fallen at Pactola Dam by early evening. Pactola caught the runoff from above it, rising from 4,579.7 feet on June 8 to 4,585.1 feet on June 22. Downstream, Canyon Lake Dam failed that night, and the flood killed 238 people. Reclamation later raised Pactola 15 feet and enlarged its spillway, finishing in 1987.
Can you launch a boat at Pactola when the lake is low?
Only down to a point. Reclamation lists a minimum launch elevation of 4,569 feet at the south ramp, which ends at 4,567.7 feet, and 4,571 feet at the north ramp, which ends at 4,570.1 feet. Once the lake drops below those levels, as it did in the 2026 drought, launching is unsafe at either ramp, and the answer also depends on the length of your boat and any sediment on the ramp.
How fast does Pactola Reservoir refill after a drought?
Faster than most people expect, given a wet spring. After bottoming at 4,539.3 feet in January 2008, the lake rose to about 4,573 feet by the end of September 2008 and reached full pool in July 2009. In 1991 it climbed from 4,531.5 feet in January to more than 4,568 feet by July. In both cases the big gains came in May and June.
Other lakes near Pactola Reservoir
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