Lake Tenkiller Water Level
Lake Tenkiller is at 625.81 ft today (Oct 6), 6.19 ft below its 632 ft full pool, down 0.02 ft this week.
Oklahoma · Illinois River
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Water level history
About Lake Tenkiller
Lake Tenkiller is a reservoir on the Illinois River in Oklahoma, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It's known for unusually clear water. Its full summer pool sits at 632 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Lake Tenkiller's water level
Tenkiller Ferry Dam sits on the Illinois River about twelve miles above its mouth on the Arkansas, northeast of Gore, and it was finished in 1952 under the Flood Control Act of 1938. Below 632 feet the lake is almost entirely spoken for. The conservation pool, from 594.5 up to 632, holds about 369,000 acre-feet, and the Tulsa District says every acre-foot of its water supply share is under contract to towns, rural water districts and industry, while Southwestern Power Administration uses the rest for hydropower. Nothing is set aside for recreation or for the trout below the dam. The powerhouse has two units totaling 45 megawatts that pass roughly 4,100 cubic feet per second at full load, and releases are also timed around flows on the Arkansas River navigation channel. The result is a lake that is rarely still. State fisheries biologists have noted annual swings of as much as 30 feet, and they have given up on planting shoreline vegetation because nothing survives the fluctuation.
Above 632 feet the lake is doing flood control. The flood pool runs another 35 feet, to 667, and holds about 570,000 acre-feet on top of the conservation pool; a surcharge zone reaches 671 and the top of the dam is 677.2. Tenkiller uses that space often. In the Corps' hourly record, which runs from 2014, the pool has passed 660 feet in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022, and the biggest rise came at the end of December 2015, when the lake peaked near 666.3 feet, about a foot shy of the top of the flood pool. Local news put it at 34 feet above normal, with the dam releasing about 13,300 cubic feet per second and Burnt Cabin Marina among the closed areas. The low side is quieter but has a floor too. The Corps' drought plan treats the lake as being in its first stage down to 622.8 feet, 70 percent of conservation storage, with later stages keyed to 50 and 30 percent.
The lake's reputation for clear water is real but relative. Volunteer monitoring summarized by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board found Secchi readings reaching more than four meters, good by Oklahoma reservoir standards, with the upper lake noticeably murkier than the lower end and clarity trending down. The state wildlife department's 2008 management plan gave an average Secchi reading of 4.3 feet and cited a 1996 Clean Lakes study that classed Tenkiller as eutrophic. The cause is upstream. Tenkiller is the only reservoir in the Illinois River watershed, which carries a heavy poultry industry in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and with an average residence time of around 250 days it acts as a nutrient trap. By midsummer the lake is stratified, with a thermocline near 30 to 36 feet and oxygen falling below 1 part per million around 26 to 29 feet. Under the lower lake are the remains of old Cookson, which was moved uphill when the reservoir filled.
Lake Tenkiller — frequently asked
What is Lake Tenkiller's full pool elevation?
632 feet above sea level, the top of the conservation pool. At that level the lake covers about 12,900 acres with roughly 130 miles of shoreline. Everything between 632 and 667 feet is flood storage, about 570,000 acre-feet, and the Corps lets water down through that range after big rains. A surcharge zone runs to 671 feet and the dam crest is at 677.2.
What is the highest Lake Tenkiller has been?
The highest level in the Corps' online hourly record, which begins in 2014, is about 666.3 feet in the last days of December 2015. That was roughly 34 feet over normal pool and within a foot of the top of the flood pool. The dam was releasing around 13,300 cubic feet per second, and several areas around the lake, including Burnt Cabin Marina, were closed.
What is the lowest Lake Tenkiller has been?
The Tulsa District cites October 1954, during the drought of the 1950s, when the pool fell to 599.0 feet. That left the conservation pool about 91 percent empty, only two years after the dam was completed. In the modern hourly record the lake has stayed well above that; its lows since 2014 have been in the 623 to 625 foot range, reached in the winter of 2016 to 2017 and in 2022.
Why does Tenkiller's water level change so much?
All of the lake's conservation storage is assigned to hydropower and contracted water supply, so generation and withdrawals draw it down, and the Corps has no storage allocated to hold the level steady for recreation. On the high side, the 35 foot flood pool fills whenever the Illinois River basin gets heavy rain and is emptied as downstream conditions on the Arkansas allow. State biologists describe yearly swings of up to 30 feet.
Is Lake Tenkiller good for scuba diving?
It has long been considered one of the best places to dive in Oklahoma. The dive park at Fisherman's Point in Tenkiller State Park, near the mouth of Pine Cove, has sunken boat hulls, a helicopter fuselage, an airplane and a school bus in water to about 60 feet. Visibility varies a lot with season and runoff; the state tourism office quotes 3 to 10 feet in one article and 8 to 28 feet in another.
Where is the trout fishing below Tenkiller Dam?
The Lower Illinois River from the dam 7.75 miles down to the U.S. 64 bridge near Gore is one of Oklahoma's year round trout areas, with a fly and lure only, barbless section in the Simp and Helen Watts unit. In 2026 the wildlife department suspended stocking after flooding at a federal hatchery cost about two years of trout. Water quality depends on the lake: turbine baffles added in the 1990s raised oxygen levels, but heavy flood releases can use up the cold bottom water the trout need.
What was the Oklahoma poultry lawsuit over the Illinois River and Lake Tenkiller?
Oklahoma sued 14 poultry companies in 2005 over chicken litter spread on fields in the Illinois River watershed. In January 2023 Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled the companies responsible for the phosphorus pollution, and a judgment followed in December 2025. A July 2026 settlement of about $44 million phases land application of litter down to 20 percent and helps growers pay for buffer strips along the lake and the scenic rivers. In August 2026 the Tenth Circuit stayed the judgment in light of that settlement.
Flow released below Lake Tenkiller
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 Lake Tenkiller
- Lake TexomaTX/OK
- Skiatook LakeOK
- Lake Altus-LugertOK
- Oologah LakeOK
- Arcadia LakeOK
- Lake of the ArbucklesOK
See current levels for all 17 Oklahoma lakes and reservoirs →
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