73.05 ft Santee Cooper plant datum
level 3.8 ft below full pool — on the low side for late September
Reading comes straight from U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (USGS gauge 02171000) and updates live when you load this page.
Is Lake Marion full?
Not quite — 3.8 ft below full pool as of September 24, 2026
How full is Lake Marion? 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.
Lake Marion through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1984–2026. 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.
- 2026 (this year)
- 2025 (last year)
- 2020 (wettest on record)
- 2008 (driest on record)
Lake Marion water temperature
89° as of August 25, 2026
Read from the USGS gauge in the lake near Pineville. It sits up in the pool rather than in the diversion canal below it, and its year runs from about 50° in February to the mid-eighties in July. One sensor is one spot on the lake. A shallow cove on a still afternoon runs warmer than this, and the water a few feet down runs colder.
Water temperature is not water safety. A warm surface says nothing about what is under it — colder water a few feet down, currents near the dam or the spillway, or a bacteria advisory — so check with the lake office before you get in.
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 | 76.80 ft Santee Cooper plant datum · per Santee Cooper full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Gauge | USGS gauge 02171000 · U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System |
| Datum | Santee Cooper plant datum — 76.8 ft is the FERC maximum elevation at Santee Dam; the seasonal rule curve runs ~72.0 (winter) to 75.5 (summer), so the lake rarely sits at 76.8. |
| 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
What is the lake level for Lake Marion today?
Lake Marion is at 73.05 ft (Santee Cooper plant datum) as of September 24, 2026 — 3.8 ft below full pool — on the low side for late September.
Is Lake Marion full?
Not quite — at 73.05 ft on September 24, 2026, Lake Marion is 3.8 ft below its full pool of 76.80 ft (Santee Cooper plant datum).
How full is Lake Marion?
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 Lake Marion?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Marion is 76.80 ft Santee Cooper plant datum, per Santee Cooper full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.
What is the water temperature at Lake Marion?
Lake Marion was 89° on August 25, 2026. Read from the USGS gauge in the lake near Pineville. It sits up in the pool rather than in the diversion canal below it, and its year runs from about 50° in February to the mid-eighties in July. One sensor is one spot on the lake. A shallow cove on a still afternoon runs warmer than this, and the water a few feet down runs colder.