Lake Shasta Water Level
Lake Shasta is at 980.33 ft today (Oct 5), 86.67 ft below its 1,067 ft full pool, down 1.87 ft this week.
California · Sacramento River
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Water level history
About Lake Shasta
Lake Shasta is a reservoir on the Sacramento River in California, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It's California's largest reservoir. Its full summer pool sits at 1067 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from California's Department of Water Resources (CDEC) and update daily.
Understanding Lake Shasta's water level
Shasta Dam is the keystone of the Central Valley Project, the federal system that moves Sacramento River water the length of the state. Full pool sits at 1,067 feet, where the lake holds 4,552,000 acre-feet, the largest reservoir capacity in California and normally about 41 percent of everything stored in the entire CVP. Three streams built this lake: the Sacramento at its head, the McCloud arm to the east, and the Pit River, which actually supplies more inflow than either of the others and pushes more than 21 miles back into the hills. The dam itself is 602 feet of curved concrete, finished in 1945, with a powerhouse of five turbines rated at 142 megawatts each. The number that matters in a flood is the spillway: three drum gates, each 110 feet wide and weighing 500 tons, rated at 186,000 cubic feet per second, and with the 18 river outlet valves added in, Reclamation can push as much as 267,800 cubic feet per second downstream.
Reclamation does not let Shasta fill all the way through fall and winter. Every year it holds open as much as 1.3 million acre-feet of flood space behind the dam, leaving roughly 3.2 million acre-feet for water supply, power, and the cold water reserved for salmon, which is why the lake can look drawn down well before any drought shows up. Once the reservoir stratifies into warm and cold layers each spring, operators run a temperature control device built into the dam's face, a steel shutter structure about 250 feet wide and 300 feet tall that lets them choose which depth to draw water from, down to more than 300 feet, so the coldest water is saved for late summer. That cold water keeps the 44 miles of the Sacramento River between Keswick Dam and Red Bluff survivable for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, a run that spawned in the Little Sacramento, McCloud, and Pit rivers before the dams cut it off and that fell from roughly 87,000 fish in the late 1960s to fewer than 200 by the early 1990s.
The lake has a history under its surface. Kennett, once the largest mining town in the area, and the smaller settlement of Copper City were both flooded as Shasta filled in the mid-1940s, and their foundations now sit under as much as 400 feet of water. The reservoir's worst drought came in 1977, when storage fell to about 13 percent of capacity and the surface dropped to roughly 837 feet, a mark nothing since has matched. The 2021 drought was the worst of the modern data era, pulling the lake down to 882 feet, but that is still about 45 feet above the 1977 low. A federal proposal to raise the dam 18.5 feet and add about 630,000 acre-feet of storage has been studied for decades and keeps coming back. The Trump administration put roughly $40 million toward planning it again in March 2026, but the plan still runs into California's Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which protects the stretch of the McCloud River that still runs free, the arm a taller dam would flood.
Lake Shasta — frequently asked
What is Shasta Lake's full pool elevation and capacity?
Full pool is 1,067 feet, where the reservoir holds 4,552,000 acre-feet, the largest capacity of any reservoir in California. Shasta Dam, the 602-foot structure that impounds it, was finished in 1945 and normally accounts for about 41 percent of everything stored in the Central Valley Project. The lake is fed by the Sacramento, Pit, and McCloud rivers, and the Pit actually supplies more inflow than either of the other two.
Why does Shasta Lake's level drop so much every fall and winter?
Reclamation is required to hold flood space behind the dam through the wet season, up to 1.3 million acre-feet of it, so releases increase even when the lake is not full and even in years that turn out wet. That leaves roughly 3.2 million acre-feet for water supply, hydropower, and the cold water reserved for salmon. The reservoir typically refills each spring with snowmelt and storms, then Reclamation starts drafting it again for irrigation deliveries and temperature management through summer and fall.
What is Shasta Lake's record low water level?
About 837 feet, reached in September 1977 when back-to-back dry years left the reservoir at only 13 percent of capacity, its lowest point on record. The 2021 drought was the worst of the modern instrument era and pulled the lake down to 882 feet, but that is still roughly 45 feet above the 1977 mark. Because digital reservoir records for Shasta only go back to the mid-1980s, many online trackers, including this lake's own gauge history, do not show the 1977 low at all.
What is Shasta Lake's record high water level?
In the state's daily elevation record, which starts in the mid-1980s, the highest reading is 1,066.48 feet on April 30, 2003, about half a foot below full pool. Several other wet years, including 1996, 1998, and 2010, came within a foot or two of the top as well. Reclamation rarely lets the lake reach true full pool, since flood control rules require space to be held open through the winter months.
Why does Reclamation manage water temperature at Shasta Dam?
The reservoir supplies the cold water that keeps the Sacramento River survivable for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, which now spawn only in the 44 miles between Keswick Dam and Red Bluff, the last habitat left to them after Shasta and Keswick dams cut off their historic spawning grounds in the Little Sacramento, McCloud, and Pit rivers. A temperature control device built into the dam's face, operating since 1997, lets Reclamation choose which depth to draw water from so the coldest water is saved for late summer spawning.
What towns were flooded to create Shasta Lake?
Kennett, once the largest mining town in the region, and the smaller settlement of Copper City were both submerged as the reservoir filled in the mid-1940s. Kennett had already been declining since its main copper mine closed in 1923 and was fully underwater by 1944, a year before the dam itself was finished. Their remains now sit under as much as 400 feet of water, depending on the current lake level.
Is the plan to raise Shasta Dam moving forward?
It remains blocked by state law. Reclamation's proposal would raise the dam 18.5 feet and add about 630,000 acre-feet of storage, but doing so would flood part of the McCloud River, which California's Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects from exactly that kind of project. A 2019 state court order already stopped one local water district from helping fund the work, and in March 2026 the Trump administration put about $40 million toward planning the project again, though the legal conflict remains unresolved.
Other lakes near Lake Shasta
- Lake SonomaCA
- Prosser Creek ReservoirCA
- Stampede ReservoirCA
- Pine Flat LakeCA
- Success LakeCA
- Lake OrovilleCA
See current levels for all 29 California lakes and reservoirs →
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