lakedates.com

North Dakota · USACE Omaha District (Pipestem Dam)

Pipestem Reservoir water level

Today's reading against full pool and Pipestem Reservoir's own seasonal history.

Searched “Pipestem lake level” or “lake level for Pipestem Reservoir”? Same lake, same reading — you're in the right place. The current reading is right here too, whether you typed “current Pipestem Reservoir water level” or “current water level at Pipestem Reservoir”.

FULL POOL 1440 1445 1450 1455
Elevation, feet (project datum)

as of October 1, 2026

1443.30 ft project datum

level 0.8 ft above full pool — typical for early October

Reading comes straight from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data (USACE lake gauge) and updates live when you load this page.

Is Pipestem Reservoir full?

Yes, and then some — 0.8 ft above full pool as of October 1, 2026

How full is Pipestem Reservoir? Not as a percentage: no storage figure comes through with this gauge reading, and a share of capacity worked out from the elevation alone would be a guess — how much water a reservoir holds at a given level is a curve only the operator's own capacity table knows. Feet from full pool is what the operator publishes, and it is the figure above.

Pipestem Reservoir through the year

The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1990–2026. The summer drawdown — and how this year sits in it — shows up without reading a single number.

full pool 1440 1450 1460 1470 1480 JFMAMJJASOND
Median and normal range by day of year, 1990–2026 · elevation, feet (project datum)

This year vs the years that matter

This year's trace against last year and the driest and wettest years on record — the drought-context question every lake regular asks.

full pool 1400 1420 1440 1460 1480 JFMAMJJASOND
  • 2026 (this year)
  • 2025 (last year)
  • 2011 (wettest on record)
  • 1990 (driest on record)

Full pool, datum, and the gauge

"Full pool" here means the conservation pool — the level the lake is designed to hold for water supply and recreation, not the flood-control space above it. The full explainer covers flood pool and dead pool too.

Full pool 1442.50 ft project datum · per USACE Omaha District (Pipestem Dam) full-pool reference
Conservation capacity 8,354 acre-feet · per USACE Omaha District (Pipestem Dam) capacity reference
Gauge USACE lake gauge · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data
Datum project datum — The district publishes the gauge and the top of conservation pool figure in the project's own datum, so the two compare like for like.
Last verified August 20, 2026

LakeDates reports lake level, not ramp status. Whether a given ramp or marina is usable at this level varies ramp by ramp — call the marina before you tow.

Quick answers

What is the lake level for Pipestem Reservoir today?

Pipestem Reservoir is at 1443.30 ft (project datum) as of October 1, 2026 — 0.8 ft above full pool — typical for early October.

Is Pipestem Reservoir full?

Yes and then some — at 1443.30 ft on October 1, 2026, Pipestem Reservoir is 0.8 ft above its full pool of 1442.50 ft (project datum), using flood storage.

How full is Pipestem Reservoir?

Not as a percentage: no storage figure comes through with this gauge reading, and a share of capacity worked out from the elevation alone would be a guess — how much water a reservoir holds at a given level is a curve only the operator's own capacity table knows. Feet from full pool is what the operator publishes, and it is the figure above.

What is full pool for Pipestem Reservoir?

Full pool (the conservation pool) for Pipestem Reservoir is 1442.50 ft project datum, per USACE Omaha District (Pipestem Dam) full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.