Reservoirs
Near normalMillerton Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in San Joaquin basin, California
Data through Aug 26, 2026 · source last checked Aug 27, 2026 · page revised Aug 27, 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
- Millerton Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Aug 26, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 239,518 af, 5% below the 5-yr median, 46% of capacity.
Millerton Lake storage fell to 239,518 af, down 3.4% from a week ago. The month-to-month decline of 21.4% has left the lake 5% below the 5-year median at 46% of capacity.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 239,518 af | 248,073 af | -3.4% |
| Month over month | 239,518 af | 304,754 af | -21.4% |
| Year over year | 239,518 af | 245,999 af | -2.6% |
| vs 5-yr median | 239,518 af | 253,151 af | -5.4% |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 578 ft above sea level (conservation elevation) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 293 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 4,810 acres | USBR |
| Total capacity | 520,500 acre-feet | CDEC |
Previous weeks
Week of Aug 19, 2026
Millerton Lake storage fell to 248,073 af, down 7.2% over the week and 5% below its 5-year median. Month-over-month storage declined 24.5% from early August. The reservoir is at 48% of capacity.
An earlier week
Millerton Lake held 267,197 af on August 12, down 3.0% on the week. Storage shed 25.5% over the month, reflecting summer irrigation drawdown. The lake sits 4% below its 5-year median and stands at 51% of capacity.
Week of Aug 13, 2026
Millerton storage fell to 272,374 af, down 26.6% over the month and 2.6% over the week. The lake sits 2% below its 5-year median at 52% of capacity.
About Millerton Lake
Friant Dam forms Millerton Lake on the upper San Joaquin River and heads the CVP's Friant Division. Water leaves the dam through two canals, the Friant-Kern running south toward Bakersfield and the Madera Canal heading north, together supplying the east side of the San Joaquin Valley. The reservoir itself is fairly small at around 520,000 acre-feet.
Total capacity is 520,500 af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 138,280 af to 528,669 af.
Millerton Lake is one of the 20 major reservoirs this site totals each day, and one of several it tracks in the San Joaquin basin. For the combined picture, western reservoir levels 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 surface area from the Bureau of Reclamation; maximum depth from the Bureau of Reclamation; total capacity from the California Data Exchange Center.