5366.50 ft Reclamation project datum
level 27.0 ft below full pool — typical for late September
Reading comes straight from Bureau of Reclamation RISE (Reclamation RISE item 146) and updates live when you load this page.
Is Buffalo Bill Reservoir full?
Not quite — 27.0 ft below full pool as of September 22, 2026
How full is Buffalo Bill 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.
Buffalo Bill Reservoir through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1980–2026. 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)
- 1998 (wettest on record)
- 1988 (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 | 5393.50 ft Reclamation project datum · per Bureau of Reclamation full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Conservation capacity | 646,565 acre-feet · per Bureau of Reclamation capacity reference |
| Gauge | Reclamation RISE item 146 · Bureau of Reclamation RISE |
| Datum | Reclamation project datum |
| 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 Buffalo Bill Reservoir today?
Buffalo Bill Reservoir is at 5366.50 ft (Reclamation project datum) as of September 22, 2026 — 27.0 ft below full pool — typical for late September.
Is Buffalo Bill Reservoir full?
Not quite — at 5366.50 ft on September 22, 2026, Buffalo Bill Reservoir is 27.0 ft below its full pool of 5393.50 ft (Reclamation project datum).
How full is Buffalo Bill 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 Buffalo Bill Reservoir?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Buffalo Bill Reservoir is 5393.50 ft Reclamation project datum, per Bureau of Reclamation full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.