Richard B. Russell Lake Water Level
Richard B. Russell Lake is at 473.02 ft today (Oct 6), 1.98 ft below its 475 ft full pool, up 0.23 ft this week.
Georgia & South Carolina · Savannah River
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Water level history
About Richard B. Russell Lake
Richard B. Russell Lake is a reservoir on the Savannah River in Georgia & South Carolina, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 475 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from USGS gauge 02188100 and update every 15 to 60 minutes.
Understanding Richard B. Russell Lake's water level
Richard B. Russell Lake sits on the Savannah River near Elberton, Georgia, and Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, about 30 miles below Lake Hartwell and 37 miles above J. Strom Thurmond Lake. The Corps of Engineers started building the dam in 1974, began filling the lake in October 1983, had it full by December 1984, and put the first generator on line in January 1985. Congress had originally authorized the project as Trotters Shoals Lake, and it was renamed in 1987 for Georgia senator Richard Brevard Russell Jr., who served from 1933 until his death in 1971. The site's full pool of 475 feet sits in the middle of an unusually narrow range for a reservoir this size: a conservation pool of just 470 to 475 feet, topped by a flood pool that runs to 480. That tight band, not seasonal rainfall, is what mostly decides how this lake behaves.
Russell works as a flow-through project: it takes in whatever Hartwell releases upstream, runs it through its own turbines, and sends it on to Thurmond. Because it holds so little water, the Corps keeps it near the top of its conservation pool all year, skipping the four-foot fall drawdown that Hartwell and Thurmond take on for winter flood space. That design held up during the drought of the late 1980s: a 1989 federal review found Russell stayed inside its five-foot conservation pool the whole time, while Hartwell and Thurmond both fell 15 to 17 feet below their conservation pool tops. The dam also carries four conventional 75-megawatt generators, running since January 1985, plus four reversible pump-turbine units for pumped storage, completed by 1992. A lawsuit by wildlife groups over fish killed by entrainment during pumping blocked their use for years while the Corps ran fish entrainment studies through the 1990s; hydropower trackers place full commercial pump-back service around 2002, roughly a decade after the units went in.
Water pulled from deep in the reservoir for hydropower comes from a layer that loses oxygen once the lake stratifies each summer, and letting it go downstream that way would hurt the fishery below the dam. Since April 1985 the Corps has injected oxygen about a mile above the dam, at roughly the 135-foot depth the turbines draw from, lifting dissolved oxygen from a background near 2 milligrams per liter to more than 6 in the water released downstream; the original ceramic diffusers were swapped for soaker-hose lines in 2001. On the lake itself, Corps policy bars private docks, ramps, and cleared shoreline anywhere, a rule that applies to every reservoir it built after 1974, and a 300-foot collar of land around the water is kept as a wildlife corridor rather than developed. Richard B. Russell State Park in Elbert County, Georgia, and Calhoun Falls State Park in Abbeville County, South Carolina, both sit on the shoreline. Anglers fish largemouth and spotted bass, crappie, and catfish, plus trout stocked in the headwaters and tailrace; the South Carolina state record striped bass, 63 pounds, came out of Russell in 2009.
Richard B. Russell Lake — frequently asked
What is Richard B. Russell Lake's full pool elevation?
Full pool is 475 feet. Unusually for a reservoir this size, that number sits in the middle of a narrow operating range rather than at a seasonal high: the conservation pool runs from 470 to 475 feet, and the flood pool tops out at 480. The Corps of Engineers built Russell with very little storage on purpose, so it acts as a flow-through link between Lake Hartwell above it and J. Strom Thurmond Lake below, not as a reservoir that fills and drains through the year.
Why doesn't Russell Lake drop the way Hartwell and Thurmond do during a drought?
Russell has only a five-foot conservation pool, so the Corps holds it near the top of that pool year round instead of drawing it down for the seasons. A 1989 federal review of the late-1980s drought found Russell stayed inside its five-foot band the entire time while Hartwell and Thurmond both fell 15 to 17 feet below their conservation pool tops. With so little storage to begin with, there is very little for the Corps to give up.
What high and low levels does this page's gauge show for Russell Lake?
The gauge feed on this page lists a high of 479.68 feet in 2016, just under the 480-foot flood pool, and a low of 469.39 feet in 2009, just under the 470-foot conservation pool floor. Both numbers fit the lake's known operating band, but the feed only covers a limited window, so despite the page's "All-time" label, treat these as the range in the available gauge data rather than a confirmed full historical record.
Does Russell Lake have pumped storage, and why did it take so long to start operating?
Yes. Four conventional generators went on line in January 1985, and four reversible pump-turbine units for pumped storage were completed by 1992. A lawsuit by wildlife groups over fish killed by entrainment during pumping blocked their operation, and the Corps spent the 1990s running phased fish entrainment studies before concluding pumping would not cause lasting harm. Hydropower industry trackers place full commercial pump-back operation around 2002, about a decade after the units were installed.
Why does Richard B. Russell Dam inject oxygen into the lake?
Water drawn from deep in the reservoir for hydropower comes from a layer that loses oxygen as the lake stratifies each summer, and sending it downstream that way would hurt the fishery below the dam. Since April 1985 the Corps has injected oxygen about a mile above the dam, near the same depth the turbines draw from, raising dissolved oxygen from around 2 milligrams per liter to more than 6 in the released water.
Can I build a dock or clear shoreline on Lake Russell?
No. Because Russell was built after 1974, Corps of Engineers policy bars private docks, ramps, cleared vistas, or any other exclusive shoreline use anywhere on the lake. A 300-foot collar of land around the water is kept as a wildlife corridor instead, which is why the shoreline stays wooded and undeveloped compared with older reservoirs nearby.
What fish live in Russell Lake, and are there state parks on it?
The lake holds largemouth and spotted bass, crappie, catfish, and trout stocked in its cooler headwaters and tailrace, along with striped bass; the South Carolina state record striped bass, 63 pounds, was caught in Russell in 2009. Richard B. Russell State Park in Elbert County, Georgia, and Calhoun Falls State Park in Abbeville County, South Carolina, both sit directly on the lake's shoreline.
Other lakes near Richard B. Russell Lake
- Lake SeminoleGA/FL
- Lake OconeeGA
- Lake SinclairGA
- Lake NottelyGA
- Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula)GA/AL
- Lake LanierGA
See current levels for all 16 Georgia lakes and reservoirs →
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