Stockton Lake Water Level
Stockton Lake is at 862.33 ft today (Oct 19), 4.67 ft below its 867 ft full pool, up 0.01 ft this week.
Missouri · Sac River
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Water level history
About Stockton Lake
Stockton Lake is a reservoir on the Sac River in Missouri, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 867 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Stockton Lake's water level
Stockton Lake sits on the Sac River in southwest Missouri, roughly forty miles northwest of Springfield, and it exists mainly to keep that river from flooding the towns below it. The Kansas City District of the Army Corps of Engineers built the dam between 1963 and 1969, hiring Amis Construction Company of Oklahoma City for a job that ran well past its original forty million dollar estimate to roughly seventy three million by the time it was done. The project was authorized primarily for flood control, with hydropower added as a second purpose; the powerhouse itself did not start generating until 1973, four years after the lake filled. Conservation pool sits at 867 feet above mean sea level, covering about 25,000 acres and 300 miles of shoreline, while the flood control pool above it tops out at 892 feet. Below the dam, the Sac River keeps flowing north and empties into Truman Reservoir near Osceola, so whatever the Corps releases at Stockton becomes inflow the same district has to manage on the Osage River system as well.
Stockton runs a single generating unit built to follow the power grid rather than a set schedule. The Southwestern Power Administration markets the output, and the turbine spins up when demand calls for it, the same peaking arrangement used at Truman Dam, with which Stockton's output is rated jointly at 232 megawatts. The original 45.2 megawatt turbine went in with the powerhouse in 1973; Voith Hydro rewound the generator and installed a new runner starting in 2010, and the upgraded 52 megawatt unit began testing in 2014. Springfield has drawn on the lake since 1996, when City Utilities finished a 30 mile pipeline moving up to about eight million gallons a day into Fellows Lake, a link that matters most in drought. In December 2023, with the lake five to six feet below normal for weeks, City Utilities was still pumping from Stockton, longer than it had ever sustained. A larger reallocation, cleared in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 and signed into law in January 2025 after roughly two decades of study, frees up to 38 million gallons a day, about six to seven percent of total storage, for a new regional water system serving southwest Missouri.
Locally, Stockton is known for clear water and steady wind rather than crowds. Missouri's Department of Conservation has described the lake as among the clearest in the state, and the open, largely timber free lower end draws sailors as much as anglers; the Lake Stockton Yacht Club's Governor's Cup Regatta, billed as the largest sailing regatta in Missouri, had already run at least 44 times by 2018. Walleye are the signature catch. The Conservation Department stocks fingerlings, about 300,000 in a typical year, and moved from stocking every other year to stocking annually in 2012; a spring 2025 survey found 89 percent of sampled walleye already past the 15 inch keeper length and 38 percent over 18 inches. High water is the other story here. On June 1, 2019, the pool crested at 885.3 feet, the second highest level on record, closing both Corps swim beaches and roughly half of the lake's 450 campsites and leaving only four of fourteen boat ramps usable; the all time high before that flood stood at 885.94 feet, nearly 19 feet above conservation pool.
Stockton Lake — frequently asked
What is Stockton Lake's full pool level?
867 feet above mean sea level is the top of the conservation, or multipurpose, pool, the level the Corps of Engineers tries to hold outside of floods and drought, and it lines up with the lake's listed full pool figure. At that level the lake covers roughly 25,000 acres. The flood control pool above it runs all the way to 892 feet, giving the Corps 25 feet of storage to catch runoff before releases downstream have to increase.
What is Stockton Lake's record high water level?
The highest pool on record is 885.94 feet, about 19 feet over conservation pool; local reporting in 2019 cited it as the standing record without giving the date it was set. The June 1, 2019 flood came closest, cresting at 885.3 feet, the second highest level on record, closing both Corps swim beaches and roughly half the lake's 450 campsites. The gauge panel on this page shows a lower recent high because its feed covers only the last few years.
Why does Stockton Lake's level go up and down?
Three things move it day to day and season to season: flood control operations that store spring runoff and release it slowly down the Sac River, hydropower generation that the Southwestern Power Administration schedules against grid demand rather than a fixed calendar, and drinking water withdrawals by City Utilities of Springfield through the pipeline it built to Fellows Lake in 1996. Drought compounds all three; in December 2023 the lake sat five to six feet below normal for weeks while City Utilities kept pumping.
Does Stockton Lake supply drinking water?
Yes. City Utilities of Springfield has drawn from Stockton since 1996 through a 30 mile pipeline into Fellows Lake, moving up to about eight million gallons a day with one of its three installed pumps running. A separate, larger deal, cleared in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 and signed into law in January 2025, reallocates enough lake storage for a new southwest Missouri regional water system to draw up to 38 million gallons a day, roughly six to seven percent of total storage.
Is Stockton Lake good for sailing?
It has a real reputation for it. The lower lake is wide and largely free of standing timber, which gives sailboats steady wind and room to run, and the Lake Stockton Yacht Club's Governor's Cup Regatta is billed as the largest sailing regatta in Missouri; it had run at least 44 times by 2018. The same open water that favors sailors can turn rough quickly when wind builds across the lower lake.
What is the walleye fishing like at Stockton Lake?
Missouri's Department of Conservation stocks Stockton with one to two inch walleye fingerlings, roughly 300,000 in a typical year, having moved from stocking every other year to annual stocking in 2012. A spring 2025 department survey found 89 percent of sampled walleye already past the 15 inch keeper length and 38 percent over 18 inches, and the department has long rated Stockton's water among the clearest of any Missouri lake.
Is Stockton Lake connected to Truman Lake?
Yes, indirectly. The Sac River leaves Stockton Dam and keeps flowing north into Truman Reservoir near Osceola, so water released from Stockton becomes inflow to Truman on the Osage River. Both dams are operated by the Corps' Kansas City District, and their powerhouses are rated jointly at a combined 232 megawatts, so hydropower scheduling across the two projects is coordinated rather than independent.
Flow released below Stockton Lake
This gauge reads the water leaving the dam, which is the number to check for fishing, paddling and downstream conditions. Live flow is tracked on riverlvl.com.
Other lakes near Stockton Lake
- Table Rock LakeMO
- Smithville LakeMO
- Truman LakeMO
- Pomme de Terre LakeMO
- Wappapello LakeMO
- Lake of the OzarksMO
See current levels for all 12 Missouri lakes and reservoirs →
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