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# Lake Mead water level

Live reservoir storage and water level in Colorado (Lower) basin, Nevada / Arizona

_Data through Aug 25, 2026 · source last checked Aug 27, 2026 · page revised Aug 27, 2026_

> Now 6.92M af, 20% below the 5-yr median, 26% of capacity.

Lake Mead storage stands at 6.92M af, down 14.1% from a year ago. The lake sits 20% below its 5-year median and holds 26% of capacity.

## The numbers

| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week over week | 6.92M af | 6.95M af | -0.5% |
| Month over month | 6.92M af | 7.06M af | -2.0% |
| Year over year | 6.92M af | 8.05M af | -14.1% |
| vs 5-yr median | 6.92M af | 8.64M af | -19.9% |

### Reservoir facts

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Full pool elevation | 1,219.6 ft above sea level (top of joint use pool) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 576 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 162,700 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 26,120,000 acre-feet | USBR |

## About Lake Mead

Hoover Dam created Lake Mead on the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona line, the largest reservoir in the United States by capacity at nearly 29 million acre-feet when full. Reclamation operates it as the main bank of the Lower Colorado, delivering water to Arizona, Nevada, California, and Mexico while generating power at the dam. Sustained drought has kept live storage far below full pool.

Total capacity is 26.12M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 6.92M af to 9.73M af.

Lake Mead is one of the 20 major reservoirs this site totals each day, and one of several it tracks in the Colorado (Lower) basin. For the combined picture, [western reservoir levels](/reservoir/tracked-total) carries the storage of all 20 on one chart, which is the number to watch when the question is about the West as a whole rather than about this project.

Those figures describe the reservoir at full pool, not today. The chart at the top of this page tracks storage in acre-feet rather than water depth, so read the current figure against total capacity for how full the reservoir is, and against the full pool elevation and maximum depth for the size of the water column behind the dam. The two do not move together one for one: a reservoir narrows as it deepens, so one holding half its capacity still stands more than half as deep.

Sources: full pool elevation and maximum depth from [the Bureau of Reclamation](https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=122); surface area from [the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams](https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/#/dams/system/NV10122/summary); total capacity from the Bureau of Reclamation.

## About this data

- Source: US Bureau of Reclamation RISE; California reservoirs via CA DWR CDEC
- Series: End-of-day reservoir storage
- Geography: Lake Mead water level
- Unit: acre-feet
- Calculation period: Daily reading
- Last observation: Aug 25, 2026
- Update frequency: Daily

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Cite: Lake Mead water level is 20% below its 5-yr median for the date. The Waterline, data through Aug 25, 2026. https://the-waterline.com/reservoir/lake-mead
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