Blue Mesa Reservoir Water Level
Blue Mesa Reservoir is at 7,415.94 ft today (Oct 30), 103.46 ft below its 7,519.4 ft full pool, up 3.23 ft this week.
Colorado · Gunnison River
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Water level history
About Blue Mesa Reservoir
Blue Mesa Reservoir is a reservoir on the Gunnison River in Colorado, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It's the largest body of water in Colorado. Its full summer pool sits at 7519.4 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Blue Mesa Reservoir's water level
Blue Mesa is the storage end of the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit, the three dams the Bureau of Reclamation built on the Gunnison River as part of the Colorado River Storage Project. Blue Mesa Dam went up between 1962 and 1966, with Morrow Point Dam finished downstream in 1967 and Crystal Dam in 1976. Blue Mesa is the unit's primary storage reservoir: 940,700 acre-feet in all, 748,430 of it active, behind a 390 foot earthfill embankment with its crest at 7,528 feet. Full pool, the top of the active conservation pool, is 7,519.4 feet, where the water covers 9,180 acres and runs about 20 miles up the valley west of Gunnison. The year follows the snowpack. Reclamation draws the lake down through winter, it usually bottoms out in April, and the May and June runoff refills it to a peak in July. Water leaving Blue Mesa passes through Morrow Point and Crystal before it reaches the Black Canyon, and a 2012 Record of Decision sets baseflow targets at the Whitewater gauge on the lower Gunnison for endangered fish, targets that can be cut in severe drought.
Two things drive the big drops: a failed snowpack, and Lake Powell downstream. In the summer of 2021 the Interior Department ordered 36,000 acre-feet released from Blue Mesa between August and early October, alongside 125,000 from Flaming Gorge, to help hold Powell above 3,525 feet. Elk Creek Marina had nine days to empty 180 slips and move its docks, and by 31 October the lake had fallen to 7,429.52 feet. The 2022 drought plan left Blue Mesa out and took 500,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge instead. Then came 2026. April through July inflow was the lowest on record, about 151,000 acre-feet, drier than 1977, 2002, 2012 or 2018. The lake fell through what is normally its refill season, from 7,467 feet on 1 April to 7,455 on 1 June, and reached 7,413.01 feet on 27 September, the lowest in Reclamation's daily record since the reservoir first filled and about 106 feet below full pool. Reclamation cut the Whitewater baseflow target to 500 cubic feet per second to stretch what was left.
Before the reservoir, the Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge ran up this valley, and small towns grew along it, among them Iola, Cebolla, Sapinero and Cimarron. Iola, founded in 1896 with a couple hundred farmers and ranchers, now lies under the water; its concrete foundations and twisted metal came back into view when the lake dropped in 2018. Sapinero stood about a mile north of its present site, on the north bank of the Gunnison near Soap Creek, and was moved around 1963 before the valley flooded. Curecanti National Recreation Area, established in 1965, manages the shoreline, and on the water the level decides everything. The Park Service rates Lake Fork ramp to 7,448 feet, Iola to 7,440 and Elk Creek to 7,435, and the Elk Creek docks are pulled off the shore at 7,450. The fishery is a balancing act run by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Kokanee eggs taken here stock reservoirs across the state, but lake trout eat kokanee, and the salmon fell from about a million fish to 165,000 by 2014, which is why CPW nets lake trout and pays anglers to bring them in.
Blue Mesa Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Blue Mesa Reservoir's full pool elevation?
7,519.4 feet, the top of the active conservation pool as Reclamation lists it. At that level the reservoir holds about 940,700 acre-feet and covers 9,180 acres. The dam crest is at 7,528 feet, and two radial gates on the spillway can pass up to 34,000 cubic feet per second. The highest reading in Reclamation's daily record is 7,519.64 feet on 8 July 1970, a fraction of a foot above full pool. The Recent high in the gauge panel on this page covers only the last few years of readings, which is why it shows a lower figure.
Why is Blue Mesa so low in 2026?
The snow never came. Reclamation put April through July inflow at roughly a quarter of average, the lowest on record, and forecast the full water year at 377,000 acre-feet, 42 percent of average. Instead of rising in spring, the lake dropped about twelve feet between April and June and kept falling through summer. Reclamation said in September that Blue Mesa would not fill this year and projected about 140,000 acre-feet of storage, 17 percent of live capacity, at the end of September.
What is Blue Mesa's record low?
Setting aside the first filling in 1965 and 1966, the lowest level in Reclamation's daily record is 7,413.01 feet on 27 September 2026, about 106 feet below full pool. Before that the low mark was 7,427.71 feet on 16 April 1984, just ahead of a runoff that refilled the lake to 7,518.56 by late August. The 2021 releases for Lake Powell took the lake to 7,429.52 feet at the end of October that year.
Did Blue Mesa release water to prop up Lake Powell?
Yes, once. In 2021 the Interior Department ordered 36,000 acre-feet released from Blue Mesa from August into early October, along with 125,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge, counted under the 2019 Drought Response Operations Agreement between the Upper Basin states and Interior. The 2022 plan did not call for Blue Mesa water and drew 500,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge instead, though it did not rule Blue Mesa out for the future.
At what lake level do the Blue Mesa boat ramps close?
The Park Service lists minimum safe elevations of 7,448 feet for Lake Fork ramp, 7,440 for Iola and 7,435 for Elk Creek, so Elk Creek is the last to go. The marinas move sooner: Elk Creek docks are cut loose from shore and moved to deeper water at 7,450 feet, and the Lake Fork dock at 7,443. In July 2026 Lake Fork Marina shut down on 27 July and Elk Creek went to hand launch only after 31 July.
Is Blue Mesa the largest lake in Colorado?
It is regularly described as the largest body of water in Colorado. At full pool it covers 9,180 acres, runs about 20 miles long and has roughly 96 miles of shoreline. It is also described, more narrowly, as the largest lake located entirely within the state. Its total capacity is 940,700 acre-feet, and Reclamation projected it would be down to about 140,000 at the end of September 2026.
Why does Colorado want anglers to keep lake trout at Blue Mesa?
To protect the kokanee. CPW says lake trout 24 inches and under eat the most kokanee, and its winter tournament pays more than $10,000 in prizes for heads of fish that size. There is no bag limit on lake trout 32 inches or shorter, with one longer fish allowed per day. In 2025 anglers turned in 2,770 target heads, and that fall CPW collected nearly 3.2 million kokanee eggs, its best salmon return in six years.
Other lakes near Blue Mesa Reservoir
- Chatfield ReservoirCO
- Vallecito ReservoirCO
- Cherry Creek ReservoirCO
- Ridgway ReservoirCO
- Lemon ReservoirCO
- Paonia ReservoirCO
See current levels for all 7 Colorado lakes and reservoirs →
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