Reservoirs
Below normalLake Oroville water level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Feather-Sacramento basin, California
Data through Oct 28, 2026 · source last checked Oct 30, 2026 · page revised Oct 29, 2026
Cite
- Storage
About this data
- Source
- US Bureau of Reclamation RISE; California reservoirs via CA DWR CDEC
- Series
- End-of-day reservoir storage
- Geography
- Lake Oroville water level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Oct 28, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 1.47M af, 15% below the 5-yr median, 43% of capacity.
Oroville storage is 1.47M af, 15% below the 5-yr median and 43% of capacity. Year over year the lake has fallen 20%, month over month it is down 11%, and week over week the decline is 1.8%.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 1.47M af | 1.50M af | -1.8% |
| Month over month | 1.47M af | 1.65M af | -11.0% |
| Year over year | 1.47M af | 1.84M af | -20.0% |
| vs 5-yr median | 1.47M af | 1.73M af | -14.8% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Oct 28, 2026 | 735.93 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | -3.09 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -39.34 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 763.92 ft |
| Below full pool | 164.07 ft |
| Five-year low | 658.41 ft (Nov 30, 2022) |
| Five-year high | 899.88 ft (Jun 20, 2023) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 900 ft above sea level (full pool) | CA DWR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 748 ft | USACE NID |
| Surface area at full pool | 15,800 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 3,424,753 acre-feet | CDEC |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Lake Oroville storage fell to 1.47M af, down 20.1% year-over-year. The reservoir sits 15% below the 5-year median and 43% of capacity. Month-over-month the drop was 11.7%, with a 2.1% decline over the past week.
An earlier week
Lake Oroville storage fell to 1.48M af, down 2.3% on the week. The reservoir is 15% below the 5-year median and holds 43% of capacity. Year over year, storage is down 20.2%.
Week of Oct 25, 2026
Lake Oroville held 1.48M af, down 2.4% on the week and 12.8% in the past month. Storage sits 15% below the 5-year median and 43% of capacity, down 20.4% year over year.
An earlier week
Lake Oroville storage fell to 1.48M af, down 20.3% from last October. The month-over-month decline was 13.0%, reflecting October's seasonal drawdown. Storage sits 15% below the 5-year median.
About Lake Oroville
Lake Oroville's water level is 735.93 feet above sea level as of Oct 28, 2026, 164.07 feet below full pool (900 feet), with 1.47 million acre-feet in storage (43% of capacity). That is 3.09 feet lower than a week earlier and 39.34 feet lower than a year earlier.
Oroville Dam holds back the Feather River as the headwaters storage of California's State Water Project, operated by the Department of Water Resources rather than a federal agency. At 770 feet it is the tallest dam in the United States, behind the state's second-largest reservoir at more than 3.5 million acre-feet. DWR runs it for supply, hydropower, and winter flood control.
Total capacity is 3.42M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 787,578 af to 3.54M af.
Lake Oroville is one of the 21 major reservoirs this site totals each day. For the combined picture, western reservoir levels carries the storage of all 21 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 and the elevation table tracks the water surface in feet, so read storage against total capacity for how full the reservoir is, and the elevation 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 from the California Department of Water Resources; maximum depth and surface area from the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams; total capacity from the California Data Exchange Center.
Common questions
What is the Lake Oroville water level?
735.93 feet above sea level on Oct 28, 2026, 164.07 feet below full pool (900 feet), from the daily reading at the dam. That is 3.09 feet lower than a week earlier and 39.34 feet lower than a year earlier. The chart and elevation table above update with each new reading.
How full is Lake Oroville?
Lake Oroville held 1.47 million acre-feet on Oct 28, 2026, 43% of its total capacity of 3,424,753 acre-feet. That is 15% below the 5-yr median for the date. Over the past five years its storage has ranged from 787,578 af to 3.54M af.
How deep is Lake Oroville?
At full pool the water stands 748 feet deep at the dam, the reservoir's deepest point, per the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams. On Oct 28, 2026 the surface stood 164.07 feet below full pool, so the water at the dam was about 584 feet deep.
What is the lowest Lake Oroville has been in five years?
Its lowest reading in the past five years is 658.41 feet on Nov 30, 2022, and on Oct 28, 2026 the surface stood 77.52 feet above it. The high over the same span is 899.88 feet on Jun 20, 2023.