Reservoirs
Above normalTrinity Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Trinity-Klamath basin, California
Data through Sep 23, 2026 · source last checked Oct 1, 2026 · page revised Sep 24, 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
- Trinity Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Sep 23, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 1.70M af, 32% above the 5-yr median, 69% of capacity.
Trinity Lake storage stands at 1.70M af, down 1.2% on the week and 5.4% on the month. The lake runs 32% above its 5-year median at 69% of capacity. Year over year, storage is down 8.2%.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 1.70M af | 1.72M af | -1.2% |
| Month over month | 1.70M af | 1.80M af | -5.4% |
| Year over year | 1.70M af | 1.85M af | -8.2% |
| vs 5-yr median | 1.70M af | 1.29M af | +31.7% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Sep 23, 2026 | 2,319.12 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | -1.53 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -11.31 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 2,284.83 ft |
| Below full pool | 50.88 ft |
| Five-year low | 2,188.49 ft (Dec 22, 2022) |
| Five-year high | 2,358.97 ft (Jun 7, 2025) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 2,370 ft above sea level (top of active conservation pool) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 440 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 17,722 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 2,447,650 acre-feet | CDEC |
Previous weeks
Week of Sep 15, 2026
Trinity Lake stands at 1.72M af, 31% above the 5-year median. Storage fell 5.6% over the past month and 8.5% year-over-year. Week-over-week, storage fell 1.3%.
Week of Sep 2, 2026
Trinity Lake storage stands at 1.77M af, 32% above the 5-yr median and 72% of capacity. The lake dropped 1.3% on the week and 6.5% on the month, continuing a year-over-year decline of 8.9%.
Week of Aug 26, 2026
Trinity storage dropped to 1.79M af, down 6.4% on the month and 9.2% year over year as summer drawdown continues. The lake sits 33% above the 5-year median at 73% of capacity.
Week of Aug 19, 2026
Trinity Lake storage fell to 1.81M af, down 1.8% on the week. The lake is down 5.9% from a month ago and 9.5% year-over-year. Storage remains 32% above the 5-year median.
About Trinity Lake
Trinity Lake's water level is 2,319.12 feet above sea level as of Sep 23, 2026, 50.88 feet below full pool (2,370 feet), with 1.70 million acre-feet in storage (69% of capacity). That is 1.53 feet lower than a week earlier and 11.31 feet lower than a year earlier.
Trinity Dam blocks the Trinity River as the head of the CVP's Trinity River Division. Much of the inflow never continues down the Trinity: Reclamation diverts it through the Clear Creek Tunnel into Whiskeytown Lake and the Sacramento basin, generating power on the way. Federal law still lists the reservoir as Clair Engle Lake, though the state and most maps call it Trinity.
Total capacity is 2.45M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 521,120 af to 2.27M af.
Trinity Lake 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 maximum depth from the Bureau of Reclamation; surface area from the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams; total capacity from the California Data Exchange Center.