74.10 ft Santee Cooper plant datum
level 1.4 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Reading comes straight from U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (USGS gauge 02172000) and updates live when you load this page.
Lake Moultrie through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1989–2026. 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.
- 2025 (wettest on record)
- 2008 (driest on record)
- 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 | 75.50 ft Santee Cooper plant datum · per Santee Cooper full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Gauge | USGS gauge 02172000 · U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System |
| Datum | Santee Cooper plant datum — Operated in tandem with Lake Marion; 75.5 ft is the system summer rule-curve maximum from Santee Cooper's lake-data page (Moultrie has no separately published full pool). Older USGS daily record 1942-2007, current series from 1989. |
| 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 Moultrie right now?
Lake Moultrie is at 74.10 ft (Santee Cooper plant datum) as of August 14, 2026 — 1.4 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Is Lake Moultrie full?
Not quite — at 74.10 ft, Lake Moultrie is 1.4 ft below its full pool of 75.50 ft (Santee Cooper plant datum).
What is full pool for Lake Moultrie?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Moultrie is 75.50 ft Santee Cooper plant datum, per Santee Cooper full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.