Starvation Reservoir Water Level
Starvation Reservoir is at 5,689.28 ft today (Oct 30), 22.72 ft below its 5,712 ft full pool, up 1.52 ft this week.
Utah · Strawberry River
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Water level history
About Starvation Reservoir
Starvation Reservoir is a reservoir on the Strawberry River in Utah, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Its full summer pool sits at 5712 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Starvation Reservoir's water level
Starvation Reservoir holds water that the Central Utah Project takes out of the Uinta Basin. The Bureau of Reclamation built Starvation Dam on the Strawberry River between 1967 and 1970, about three miles northwest of Duchesne, as part of the Bonneville Unit, and storage began in November 1969. The lake is filled by two rivers. The Strawberry flows straight in, while Duchesne River water arrives through Knight Diversion Dam, about five miles upstream of town, and a feeder conduit and tunnel that carry up to 300 cubic feet per second. Releases supplement late season irrigation in the Duchesne River area and replace water that the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System sends west to the Bonneville Basin. Duchesne City, East Duchesne and the Duchesne County Water Conservancy District draw municipal water from it, and under the Midview Exchange Agreement up to 11,600 acre-feet a year goes to the Ute Indian Tribe to supplement Duchesne River flows between April and October.
Full pool on this page is 5,712 feet, which Reclamation lists as the top of the joint use pool. The dam crest is at 5,725 feet, and the maximum water surface is 5,718.3 feet, the level at which the spillway is rated for 16,000 cubic feet per second and the outlet works for 2,310. Far below full, the inactive pool tops out at 5,624.8 feet and dead storage at 5,595 feet. The yearly cycle follows snowmelt and irrigation demand. Interior's project office says storage usually peaks in summer and early fall, and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District prepares the inflow forecasts used to plan operations. When forecast runoff exceeds the space left in the lake, water goes out for flood control. In late March 2023, a big snow year, the Division of Wildlife Resources reported the lake at 86 percent with the district releasing about 150 cubic feet per second while the main lake still carried 18 to 20 inches of ice. The gauge panel's high of 5,712.54 feet is from that year.
The name is older than the lake. Locals tell competing stories of fur trappers and Native people stealing each other's winter food caches and starving. Another account, attributed to Orson Mott, says that in 1904 heavy snow trapped a cattle herd in the river bottoms now under the water, the cattle died, and Dave Murdock called the place Starvation Flats. Visit Utah calls the likeliest source a settler nickname for a stretch of the Strawberry where hard winters killed livestock and hail and floods hit a short growing season. The state park around the lake opened in 1972 and was renamed Fred Hayes State Park at Starvation in 2019, after the state parks director who began his career there and died unexpectedly in 2018. Walleye are the draw. State Parks says fish over ten pounds come out every year, and a state habitat project puts the population at about 21,000 walleye age one and older, up from about 13,000 in 2016, alongside naturally reproducing smallmouth bass and yellow perch.
Starvation Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Starvation Reservoir's full pool elevation?
5,712 feet, the top of the joint use pool in Reclamation's dam data. At that level the Central Utah Water Conservancy District's 2019 environmental assessment gives a capacity of 164,118 acre-feet and a surface of 3,296 acres. The maximum water surface is 5,718.3 feet, where the spillway's 16,000 cubic feet per second rating applies, and the dam crest is 5,725 feet.
How low has Starvation Reservoir been in 2026?
The gauge panel's low of 5,683.09 feet was set in 2026, about 29 feet below full pool. That was the year Utah's statewide snowpack peaked on March 9 at 8.4 inches of water equivalent, a record low, and the state recommended a drought emergency for all 29 counties in May. On October 1, 2026, NRCS reported Starvation holding 89,000 acre-feet, 54 percent of capacity, compared with 60 percent a year earlier.
Where does Starvation Reservoir's water come from?
Two sources. The dam sits on the Strawberry River, which flows straight in. Knight Diversion Dam, an earthen dike on the Duchesne River about five miles upstream of Duchesne completed in 1968, turns up to 300 cubic feet per second into the Starvation Feeder Conduit, nearly a mile of pipe plus the mile long Starvation Tunnel. The reservoir stores surplus winter and spring flows from both rivers.
Who uses the water stored in Starvation Reservoir?
Irrigators in the Duchesne River area get late season supplemental water, and releases also replace Uinta Basin water that the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System exports to the Bonneville Basin. The Duchesne County Water Conservancy District, East Duchesne Culinary Water Improvement District and Duchesne City take municipal water, treated at the Duchesne Valley Water Treatment Plant. The Midview Exchange Agreement provides up to 11,600 acre-feet a year for the Ute Indian Tribe.
Why is it called Starvation Reservoir?
Nobody knows for certain. The best known legends involve fur trappers and Native people stealing each other's winter food, with one side starving. An account attributed to Orson Mott ties the name to 1904, when snow stranded a cattle herd in the river bottoms and it died, after which Dave Murdock named the area Starvation Flats. Some anglers joke it refers to slow fishing.
How is the walleye fishing at Starvation?
It is the main reason most anglers come. Utah State Parks calls it one of the state's premier walleye fisheries, with fish over ten pounds caught every year. Numbers are high as well: in 2023 the Division of Wildlife Resources said walleye were overabundant, especially 13 to 14 inch fish making up 48.5 percent of the catch composition, and asked anglers to harvest them. Smallmouth bass, yellow perch and rainbow and brown trout are also present.
What is Fred Hayes State Park at Starvation?
It is the state park that surrounds the reservoir. It opened as Starvation State Park in 1972, two years after the dam was finished, and in 2019 the Utah Legislature renamed it for Fred Hayes. Hayes directed the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation from 2012 until his unexpected death in March 2018 and had started his career at Starvation.
Other lakes near Starvation Reservoir
- East Canyon ReservoirUT
- Rockport ReservoirUT
- Echo ReservoirUT
- Red Fleet ReservoirUT
- Flaming Gorge ReservoirUT/WY
- Lake PowellUT/AZ
See current levels for all 10 Utah lakes and reservoirs →
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