Reservoirs
Above normalTrinity Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Trinity-Klamath 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
- Trinity Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Aug 12, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 1.85M af, 33% above the 5-yr median, 75% of capacity.
Trinity Lake storage stands at 1.86M af, down 1.7% on the week. The reservoir is running 34% above its 5-year median and holds 76% of capacity.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 1.85M af | 1.88M af | -1.8% |
| Month over month | 1.85M af | 1.96M af | -5.7% |
| Year over year | 1.85M af | 2.03M af | -9.2% |
| vs 5-yr median | 1.85M af | 1.38M af | +33.4% |
| 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 |
About Trinity Lake
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.
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; surface area from the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams; total capacity from the California Data Exchange Center.