Tuttle Creek Lake Water Level
Tuttle Creek Lake is at 1,080.99 ft today (Oct 31), 5.99 ft above its 1,075 ft full pool, up 0.53 ft this week.
Kansas · Big Blue River
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Water level history
About Tuttle Creek Lake
Tuttle Creek Lake is a reservoir on the Big Blue River in Kansas, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1075 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Tuttle Creek Lake's water level
Tuttle Creek Lake exists because of the July 1951 flood. Rain fell across the Kansas River basin from July 9 to 13, the flooding began above Manhattan on the Big Blue River, and the city's business district ended up under eight feet of water. Basin losses topped $725 million and 28 people died. The reservoir had been authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938 but sat unfunded; after 1951 construction started on October 7, 1952, and the dam began operating on July 1, 1962, at a cost of $80,051,031. It sits on the Big Blue about five miles north of Manhattan, and its main job is still flood control. In dry years it also releases stored water that helps keep the Kansas River flowing for cities such as Topeka, Lawrence and Olathe. Normal pool is 1,075 feet. The flood control pool tops out at 1,136 feet, the level at which the Corps says spillway releases would be made without regard to downstream conditions.
The project was fought hard in the Blue Valley. About 3,000 valley residents stood to be affected, and opponents campaigned against what they called "dam foolishness" through letters, public debate and politics; the campaign helped Howard Miller win a seat in Congress in 1952. Work was suspended from December 1953 to December 1955 for lack of money, but the Corps kept buying and condemning land, eventually dealing with 1,713 landowners and taking title to 33,847 acres plus flowage easements on 27,376 more. When the lake filled it affected ten towns, among them Stockdale, Randolph, Cleburne, Garrison and Irving. Four were wiped out entirely, and Randolph was the only one rebuilt, about a mile west of the old townsite. Its new streets carry the names of the drowned towns, and the old downtown survives as an island in the marsh at the north end of the lake, reachable on foot only when Fancy Creek allows.
Two problems shape the lake's future. The first was the dam itself: it stands in an area of moderate seismicity, and the coarse sands under the embankment could have liquefied in a large earthquake. The Corps' fix, finished around 2010, was about 350 cement and bentonite slurry walls set crosswise along the downstream toe, each roughly 45 feet long, 4 feet wide and 70 feet deep. The second is mud. The Kansas Water Office estimates about 46 percent of the original storage is already gone, and the Corps projects that only about a quarter will remain in 25 years and under 10 percent in 50. Sediment has buried boat ramps and forced the marina to move, and the spot under the Randolph Bridge that was 30 feet deep in the 1960s is now mostly mud flats. In September 2025 the Corps and the Water Office ran the first 10 day test of water injection dredging, which uses jets from a barge to stir bottom mud so it flows toward the dam and out downstream.
Tuttle Creek Lake — frequently asked
What is Tuttle Creek Lake's normal pool level?
Normal pool is 1,075 feet above sea level. Everything above that is flood storage, which runs up to 1,136 feet, the top of the flood control pool and the point where the Corps would open the spillway to protect the dam regardless of what that does downstream. Corps easements on lakeside land extend to 1,140 feet, a few feet above even the 1993 record.
What is the record high at Tuttle Creek Lake?
1,137.77 feet on July 23, 1993, more than 62 feet above normal pool. Over 42 inches of rain fell at the lake from May through August that year, and the surface spread from about 13,000 acres to 56,000. The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward, and its high is 1,095.58 feet in 2026, so the 1993 record does not appear there.
Has the Tuttle Creek spillway ever been used?
Once. The 18 spillway gates opened on July 20, 1993, for the first and only time, and stayed open until August 9. Releases started at 10,000 cubic feet per second and rose to 60,000 on July 24, flooding low areas around Manhattan including Ogden, Hunter's Island and Zeandale. The rushing water stripped the chute below the gates and exposed a rock gorge locals call the Little Grand Canyon.
How high did Tuttle Creek get in 2019?
It peaked at 1,135.84 feet on May 31, 2019, the second highest level on record and just inches below the top of the spillway gates. The spillway was not opened. Releases had been held to about 200 cubic feet per second for weeks because the Missouri River was flooding at the Waverly, Missouri control gauge, and the lake was finally drawn down with a record 30,000 cubic feet per second through the outlet tubes.
Why does Tuttle Creek sometimes hold water instead of releasing it?
Outflow decisions are tied to conditions far downstream, chiefly the Missouri River gauge at Waverly, Missouri. When the Kansas or Missouri rivers are already high, the Corps keeps releases low and stores floodwater in the lake, which is why the level can keep climbing for weeks after a storm. Once the rivers drop, outflows are raised to empty the flood pool back toward 1,075 feet.
What happened at Tuttle Creek Lake in 2026?
Heavy rain pushed the lake up in the fall of 2026, and flood warnings stayed in effect on the Big Blue at Blue Rapids and Beatrice. On October 6 the lake stood at 1,094.76 feet, about 20 feet above normal pool, with roughly 15 percent of its flood storage in use. The gauge panel on this page records a 2026 high of 1,095.58 feet.
What is the fishing like at Tuttle Creek?
State biologists say crappie spawned well recently, with fall 2025 numbers nearly double the 20 year average. Blue catfish are modest in number but large, 20 to 30 inches common and some over 40 pounds. Saugeye were also up in 2025, and big releases flush them through the dam into the River Pond and stilling basin. White bass are improving but remain well below past levels. Tuttle Creek has zebra mussels, so live fish and bait cannot leave.
Other lakes near Tuttle Creek Lake
- Waconda Lake (Glen Elder)KS
- Toronto LakeKS
- Webster ReservoirKS
- Pomona LakeKS
- Wilson LakeKS
- Perry LakeKS
See current levels for all 21 Kansas lakes and reservoirs →
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