Council Grove Lake Water Level
Kansas · Neosho River
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Water level history
About Council Grove Lake
Council Grove Lake is a reservoir on the Neosho River in Kansas, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1274 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Council Grove Lake's water level
Council Grove Lake sits on the Neosho River two miles northwest of the Santa Fe Trail town it is named for, and it does not make its own decisions. The Corps of Engineers runs it as one unit of a three-reservoir system with Marion Reservoir on the Cottonwood and John Redmond downstream, sized so each lake releases in proportion to what the others are holding. Council Grove is the upstream-most structure on the Neosho, and its releases are judged at a chain of gauges running from Americus down through Burlington, Iola, Parsons and Commerce.
The structure explains the behaviour. Council Grove has no spillway gates at all: its spillway is an uncontrolled 500-foot emergency weir in a saddle in the right abutment, with a crest at 1,306 feet, so everything routine passes through a single 17-foot conduit. Non-damaging channel capacity below the dam is only 3,000 cubic feet per second, which means the lake holds water rather than dumping it. Conservation pool is 1,274 feet and the top of the flood pool is 1,289, and the practical consequences arrive early: campsite roads start going under at 1,275, power to some campsites is cut at 1,276, and State Highway 177 floods at 1,299.5.
The July 1993 flood produced the most significant pool the lake has seen, cresting around 1,294.3 feet, more than five feet above the top of the flood pool. May 2019 reached 1,289.65. In the other direction the drought of 2018 pulled it to 1,269.40 feet, about four and a half feet under conservation pool, and the 2022 to 2024 dry spell came close to matching that. The slower problem is silt: the lake was designed to accumulate 206 acre-feet a year and averaged 378 over its first thirty years, because the basin is heavily farmed and there is no reservoir upstream to catch anything.
Council Grove Lake — frequently asked
What is Council Grove Lake's full pool elevation?
The top of the conservation pool is 1,274 feet above sea level. The top of the flood-control pool is 1,289 feet, the uncontrolled emergency spillway crest is 1,306, and the top of the dam is 1,321. The flood band is only fifteen feet, which is why the lake moves into flood operation quickly after rain on the upper Neosho.
Why does Council Grove Lake stay high after a flood?
Two reasons. Non-damaging channel capacity immediately below the dam is only 3,000 cubic feet per second, so there is a hard ceiling on how fast water can leave. And the lake is operated as one unit of a three-reservoir system with Marion and John Redmond, releasing in proportion to what the other two are holding, so it waits on downstream conditions rather than emptying on its own schedule.
At what level do the campgrounds flood at Council Grove?
Earlier than most people expect. The Corps documents campsite roads beginning to inundate at 1,275 feet, just one foot above conservation pool, and power to some campsites being cut at 1,276. State Highway 177 goes under at 1,299.5 feet. Since the top of the flood pool is 1,289, the lake can be operating entirely normally and still have facilities closed.
What are Council Grove Lake's record high and low levels?
The July 1993 flood produced the highest pool in the lake's history, cresting around 1,294.3 feet on 23 July, more than five feet above the top of the flood-control pool. The May 2019 flood reached 1,289.65 feet. The lowest reading in the modern record is 1,269.40 feet on 13 August 2018, roughly four and a half feet below conservation pool.
Does Council Grove Lake have a silt problem?
Yes, a well-documented one. The lake was designed on the assumption it would accumulate 206 acre-feet of sediment a year, and its first three decades averaged 378. The Corps attributes this to heavy agriculture in the drainage basin combined with the absence of any reservoir upstream to trap sediment first. Kansas water agencies group it with the state's most sediment-affected federal reservoirs.
What is there at Council Grove Lake besides fishing?
The town, which is a National Historic Landmark district. The 1825 Treaty of Council Grove bought Santa Fe Trail passage through Osage land for eight thousand dollars; the treaty tree, the Council Oak, blew down in a storm in 1958 and its stump is sheltered downtown. The 1857 Last Chance Store, the 1851 Kaw Mission and a stretch of undisturbed trail ruts east of town are all still there. The lake itself has eight public use areas including Canning Creek, Richey Cove, Kit Carson Cove and Santa Fe Trail, and there is no state park.
Other lakes near Council Grove Lake
- El Dorado LakeKS
- Clinton LakeKS
- Elk City LakeKS
- Cheney ReservoirKS
- Fall River LakeKS
- Big Hill LakeKS
See current levels for all 12 Kansas lakes and reservoirs →
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