Canton Lake Water Level
Oklahoma · North Canadian River
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Water level history
About Canton Lake
Canton Lake is a reservoir on the North Canadian River in Oklahoma, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It supplies water to Oklahoma City and is known for walleye. Its full summer pool sits at 1615.4 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Canton Lake's water level
Canton Lake is the clearest example on this site of a reservoir whose level is set by a decision rather than by weather. All of the water supply storage in the conservation pool is under contract to Oklahoma City, which has held withdrawal rights here since the 1950s and pays about a quarter of the lake's operating costs. When Oklahoma City needs water, the Corps opens the sluice gates and sends it more than a hundred miles down the North Canadian River and then through a canal to Lake Hefner, which holds roughly forty percent of the city's drinking water. There is no pipeline. Transit takes three to five days and a large share of the water never arrives: officials expected to lose more than seventy percent to evaporation and the riverbed in 2022, and about half in 2024.
January 2013 is the release people in Canton still talk about. Thirty thousand acre-feet went downriver during a drought, the lake dropped thirteen feet below normal, an algae bloom followed, and the town lost about ninety percent of its tourism. Registrations for the walleye rodeo collapsed from around 1,200 to about 200. In a town of roughly 625 people, the cafe at the dam reported business down seventy percent and closed early for the season. By the following spring, rain around Oklahoma City was heavy enough that water had to be released from Lake Hefner to prevent flooding. The lake did not recover until April 2016. Smaller releases followed in August and October 2022 and again in October 2024, each costing one to three feet of pool.
Structurally the lake is built for a very large river: sixteen tainter gates, each forty by twenty-five feet, on a 7,601-square-mile drainage. Conservation pool is 1,615.4 feet and the flood pool runs to 1,638. The fishery is nationally consequential in a way its size does not suggest, because Canton is the primary brood source for Oklahoma's entire walleye programme. Walleye were introduced to the state at Canton and Tenkiller in the early 1950s, and adults trapped here have supplied the eggs that stocked most major Oklahoma lakes since. Bald eagles are present around the lake from November through March.
Canton Lake — frequently asked
Why does Canton Lake drop so suddenly?
Because Oklahoma City takes water from it. All the water supply storage in the conservation pool is contracted to Oklahoma City, which has held those rights since the 1950s. When it calls on them the Corps opens the sluice gates and releases water down the North Canadian River toward Lake Hefner. Each recent release has cost the lake between one and three feet, and the January 2013 release cost thirteen.
What happened at Canton Lake in 2013?
Oklahoma City took 30,000 acre-feet in January 2013 during a severe drought. The lake fell thirteen feet below normal, an algae bloom followed, and the town lost roughly ninety percent of its tourism. Walleye rodeo registrations fell from around 1,200 to about 200. By that spring, rainfall around Oklahoma City was heavy enough that Lake Hefner had to be drawn down to prevent flooding. Canton did not refill until April 2016.
How does water get from Canton Lake to Oklahoma City?
Down the river, not through a pipe. The Corps opens the dam's sluice gates and the water runs more than a hundred miles along the North Canadian River and then through a canal into Lake Hefner, taking three to five days. Losses are heavy: officials expected to lose over seventy percent of the released volume to evaporation and the riverbed in 2022, and roughly half in 2024.
What is Canton Lake's full pool elevation?
The top of the conservation pool is 1,615.4 feet above sea level, holding about 92,500 acre-feet. The top of the flood-control pool is 1,638 feet, the surcharge pool reaches 1,640, and the top of the dam is 1,648. The spillway carries sixteen tainter gates, each forty feet wide and twenty-five feet high.
Why is Canton Lake famous for walleye?
It is the source of the state's programme. Walleye were introduced to Oklahoma at Canton and Tenkiller in the early 1950s, and Canton has been the primary brood lake ever since: adults are trapped here, their eggs hand-stripped and hatched at state hatcheries, and the fry used to stock most major Oklahoma lakes. Walleye spawn here at 45 to 50 degrees, usually in early March, over rock such as the dam riprap.
Where can you camp at Canton Lake?
Six campgrounds: Big Bend, Blaine Park, Canadian, Fairview, Longdale and Sandy Cove, with more than 240 campsites between them and some electric and water hookups. Sandy Cove has one of the largest beaches in the Corps' Tulsa District and is alcohol-free. The 1.6-mile Frank Raab Nature Trail in Blaine Park is on the National Trails System, and the surrounding wildlife area covers close to 15,000 acres.
Other lakes near Canton Lake
- Lake EufaulaOK
- Broken Bow LakeOK
- Fort Cobb ReservoirOK
- Arcadia LakeOK
- Fort Gibson LakeOK
- Lake Altus-LugertOK
See current levels for all 16 Oklahoma lakes and reservoirs →
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