Reservoirs
Near normalMillerton Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in San Joaquin basin, California
Data through Aug 12, 2026 · source last checked Aug 13, 2026 · page revised Aug 13, 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 12, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 267,197 af, 4% below the 5-yr median, 51% of capacity.
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.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 267,197 af | 275,465 af | -3.0% |
| Month over month | 267,197 af | 358,626 af | -25.5% |
| Year over year | 267,197 af | 277,413 af | -3.7% |
| vs 5-yr median | 267,197 af | 277,413 af | -3.7% |
| 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 |
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.
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.