South Dakota · USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management

Lake Sharpe water level

Today's reading against full pool and Lake Sharpe's own seasonal history.

FULL POOL 1418 1420 1422
Elevation, feet (NGVD29)

as of August 15, 2026

1420.63 ft NGVD29

level 1.4 ft below full pool — on the high side for mid-August

Reading comes straight from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data (USACE series BEND.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-MRBWM) and updates live when you load this page.


Lake Sharpe 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 1420 1421 1422 JFMAMJJASOND
Median and normal range by day of year, 1990–2026 · elevation, feet (NGVD29)

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 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 JFMAMJJASOND
  • 2023 (wettest on record)
  • 1997 (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 1422.00 ft NGVD29 · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management full-pool reference
Conservation capacity 1,749,418 acre-feet · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management capacity reference
Gauge USACE series BEND.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-MRBWM · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data
Datum NGVD29 — 1422.0 = top of multipurpose zone; Big Bend runs a narrow 1420-1423 operating band, so the lake reads near-full year-round. NGVD29.
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 Sharpe right now?

Lake Sharpe is at 1420.63 ft (NGVD29) as of August 15, 2026 — 1.4 ft below full pool — on the high side for mid-August

Is Lake Sharpe full?

Not quite — at 1420.63 ft, Lake Sharpe is 1.4 ft below its full pool of 1422.00 ft (NGVD29).

What is full pool for Lake Sharpe?

Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Sharpe is 1422.00 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.