Reservoirs
Near normalNavajo Reservoir water level
Live reservoir storage and water level in San Juan-Colorado basin, New Mexico / Colorado
Data through Oct 15, 2026 · source last checked Oct 17, 2026 · page revised Oct 16, 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
- Navajo Reservoir water level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Oct 15, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 864,313 af, 9% below the 5-yr median, 51% of capacity.
Navajo storage stands at 864,313 af, 9% below the 5-year median and holding 51% of capacity. The reservoir added 11% on the month and 3% on the week. Year-over-year storage is down 9.5%.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 864,313 af | 839,461 af | +3.0% |
| Month over month | 864,313 af | 778,601 af | +11.0% |
| Year over year | 864,313 af | 954,970 af | -9.5% |
| vs 5-yr median | 864,313 af | 954,970 af | -9.5% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Oct 15, 2026 | 6,019.79 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | +2.82 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -9.74 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 6,029.53 ft |
| Below full pool | 65.21 ft |
| Five-year low | 6,009.65 ft (Sep 14, 2026) |
| Five-year high | 6,063.8 ft (May 30, 2023) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 6,085 ft above sea level (spillway elevation) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 381.6 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 15,600 acres | USBR |
| Total capacity | 1,696,000 acre-feet | USBR |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Navajo storage rose to 856,394 af, up 10.1% over the prior month. The reservoir sits at 50% of capacity, 9% below the 5-year median. Week-over-week storage gained 2.1%, while year-over-year the level is down 8.7%.
Week of Oct 7, 2026
Navajo Reservoir holds 839,028 af, up 1.8% on the week and 6.1% on the month, but down 3.7% year over year. The reservoir sits 7% below its 5-year median and at 49% of capacity.
Week of Sep 23, 2026
Navajo Reservoir storage stands at 787,623 af, 18% below the 5-year median and 46% of capacity. Storage rose 1.2% over the week but is down 4.6% month over month and 11% year over year.
Week of Sep 15, 2026
Navajo storage held 778,601 af on September 15, down 12.6% from a year ago. The level sits 20% below the 5-year median and represents 46% of capacity. The month-over-month decline of 8.3% outpaced the week's 1.3% drop.
About Navajo Reservoir
Navajo Reservoir's water level is 6,019.79 feet above sea level as of Oct 15, 2026, 65.21 feet below full pool (6,085 feet), with 864,313 acre-feet in storage (51% of capacity). That is 2.82 feet higher than a week earlier and 9.74 feet lower than a year earlier.
Navajo Dam impounds the San Juan River and backs water about 35 miles upstream into southern Colorado, one of the four main storage units of the Colorado River Storage Project. Reclamation operates it for irrigation, municipal and industrial supply, drought reserve, and flood control. Cold releases below the dam feed a well-known tailwater trout fishery.
Total capacity is 1.70M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 777,694 af to 1.34M af.
Navajo Reservoir 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 and surface area from the Bureau of Reclamation; maximum depth from the Bureau of Reclamation; total capacity from the Bureau of Reclamation.