1826.60 ft NGVD29
level 23.4 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Reading comes straight from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data (USACE series GARR.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-MRBWM) and updates live when you load this page.
Lake Sakakawea 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.
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.
- 1997 (wettest on record)
- 2005 (driest on record)
- 2025 (last year)
- 2026 (this year)
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 | 1850.00 ft NGVD29 · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Conservation capacity | 21,956,000 acre-feet · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management capacity reference |
| Gauge | USACE series GARR.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-MRBWM · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data |
| Datum | NGVD29 — CWMS returns feet with unit=EN (verified units:ft). 1850.0 = top of multipurpose zone (base of exclusive flood control), NGVD29 project datum; capacity is storage at that level. |
| Last verified | August 15, 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
How full is Lake Sakakawea right now?
Lake Sakakawea is at 1826.60 ft (NGVD29) as of August 15, 2026 — 23.4 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Is Lake Sakakawea full?
Not quite — at 1826.60 ft, Lake Sakakawea is 23.4 ft below its full pool of 1850.00 ft (NGVD29).
What is full pool for Lake Sakakawea?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Sakakawea is 1850.00 ft NGVD29, per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.