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# Shasta Lake level

Live reservoir storage and water level in Sacramento basin, California

_Data through Aug 26, 2026 · source last checked Aug 27, 2026 · page revised Aug 27, 2026_

> Now 2.68M af, 8% below the 5-yr median, 59% of capacity.

Shasta storage fell to 2.68M af, down 3.6% on the week and 14.1% over the month. It sits 8% below the 5-year median at 59% of capacity.

## The numbers

| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week over week | 2.68M af | 2.78M af | -3.6% |
| Month over month | 2.68M af | 3.12M af | -14.1% |
| Year over year | 2.68M af | 2.90M af | -7.5% |
| vs 5-yr median | 2.68M af | 2.90M af | -7.5% |

### Reservoir facts

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Full pool elevation | 1,067 ft above sea level | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 522.5 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 30,210 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 4,552,000 acre-feet | CDEC |

## About Shasta Lake

Shasta Dam blocks the upper Sacramento River north of Redding and anchors the Central Valley Project. At roughly 4.5 million acre-feet it is the largest reservoir in California, holding close to 40 percent of the CVP's stored water. Reclamation runs it for irrigation, flood control, hydropower, and cold-water releases that protect salmon downstream.

Total capacity is 4.55M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 967,370 af to 4.47M af.

Shasta Lake is one of the 20 major reservoirs this site totals each day, and one of several it tracks in the Sacramento 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=241); surface area from [the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams](https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/#/dams/system/CA10186/summary); total capacity from [the California Data Exchange Center](https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/staMeta?station_id=SHA).

## About this data

- Source: US Bureau of Reclamation RISE; California reservoirs via CA DWR CDEC
- Series: End-of-day reservoir storage
- Geography: Shasta Lake level
- Unit: acre-feet
- Calculation period: Daily reading
- Last observation: Aug 26, 2026
- Update frequency: Daily

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Cite: Shasta Lake level is 8% below its 5-yr median for the date. The Waterline, data through Aug 26, 2026. https://the-waterline.com/reservoir/shasta-lake
Canonical URL: https://the-waterline.com/reservoir/shasta-lake