Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry) Water Level
Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry) is at 79.89 ft today (Oct 31), 0.91 ft below its 80.8 ft full pool, down 0.27 ft this week.
Alabama · Alabama River
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Water level history
About Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry)
Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry) is a reservoir on the Alabama River in Alabama, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 80.8 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry)'s water level
Millers Ferry Lock and Dam sits 133 miles above the mouth of the Alabama River, about ten miles northwest of Camden, and the lake behind it reaches 105 miles upstream, the lower 25 in Wilcox County and the upper 80 in Dallas County. It is a run-of-river project with no flood storage. The Corps aims to keep the pool near 80.0 feet and lets it ride between 78.0 and 80.8, the top of the operating range and the full pool figure used here. That 2.8-foot band holds 46,704 acre-feet, and its main job is to even out Alabama Power's dams on the Coosa and Tallapoosa, which release less water on weekends. Water banked during the week goes downstream on Saturday and Sunday to help hold navigation depths and the 6,600 cubic feet per second that industries below Claiborne Lock and Dam count on for dilution. In dry spells that makes a weekly cycle, with the pool usually lowest on Monday and highest on Friday. When the dam opened in 1970 the plan called for a pool of 79.0 to 80.0; the higher ceiling and deeper floor were added later for exactly this weekend role.
With no room to store a flood, high water passes straight through. The three turbines take about 33,600 cubic feet per second; beyond that the seventeen tainter gates, each 50 feet long and 35 feet high, open in a set sequence to keep the pool between 79 and 80.8. At about 192,500 cubic feet per second, a flow the Corps expects about once in ten years, every gate is open, the river runs free over the spillway, and the lake rises with it. The record since the dam went in is 83.22 feet on 23 March 1990, after 6.75 inches fell at the dam in two days on a river already running high. The biggest flood known at the site came in April 1886, at an estimated 286,500 cubic feet per second. Low water comes from drought. In 2007 the daily average at the dam sat below 78.0 feet on 115 days and bottomed at 77.16 on 28 May, close to the 77.0 emergency floor below which no releases are made without the water control manager's say. Since 2016 the yearly low has not gone under 78.75.
The Corps awarded the dam and lock contract in October 1964. By June 1968 the lock and part of the spillway were far enough along to fill the pool to 72 feet, but in March 1969 it was dropped to 67 feet because of trouble with the cofferdam around the powerhouse site, and locking stopped until the spillway was finished late that fall. The first generator went on line on 15 April 1970 and the third on 27 May 1970, when the project was considered essentially complete at about $58.9 million. Rewinding the generators in 1998 raised the plant from 75 to 90 megawatts. In December 1970 Congress named the lake for William "Bill" Dannelly, the Camden-born Wilcox County probate judge who had lobbied for Alabama River development and died in January 1969. Across the lake from Camden, the Gee's Bend ferry stopped running in 1962, when county officials ended the service during the civil rights era and cut Gee's Bend residents off from the county seat. It returned in 2006, and since 2019 it has made the crossing of just over two miles on battery power.
Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry) — frequently asked
What is full pool at Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry)?
80.8 feet NGVD29, the top of the Corps operating range. The normal target is a little lower, 80.0 feet, and the minimum operating pool is 78.0. At 80.8 the lake covers 18,528 acres and holds 346,254 acre-feet. The 17,200 acres often quoted by the state matches the lake's area at 80.0 feet. The closed spillway gates top out at 81.0, and the pool is sometimes allowed up to that level.
Why does the level at Millers Ferry change so little?
Millers Ferry is a run-of-river dam with no flood storage, and its only usable storage is the 2.8 feet between 78.0 and 80.8, about 46,704 acre-feet. The Corps draws on that band mainly on weekends, when Alabama Power's upstream dams release less, to keep water moving to the navigation channel and industries below Claiborne. In low flow the pool usually bottoms out on Monday and peaks by Friday. Most years the lake stays within about two feet.
What is the record high level at Dannelly Reservoir?
83.22 feet on 23 March 1990, about two and a half feet over full pool. A storm on 16 and 17 March put 6.75 inches on Millers Ferry and 9.0 inches at R. F. Henry upstream, on top of a river already high from earlier rain, and outflow peaked at 220,730 cubic feet per second. In the USGS record at the dam since 2001, the highest annual peak is 81.22 feet on 16 June 2024. The gauge panel on this page reports a recent high from a shorter window of Corps readings, so it can sit below both of these figures.
How low has Dannelly Reservoir gotten?
In the USGS daily record at the dam, which begins in 2001, the low point is 77.16 feet on 28 May 2007, during the drought that year. The pool averaged below the 78.0 minimum operating level on 115 days in 2007 and dipped to 77.42 in 2008. The Corps' low-flow rules treat 77.5 feet as the maximum allowable drawdown and 77.0 as an emergency floor.
Does Millers Ferry Dam provide flood control?
No. The Corps lists no flood storage at Millers Ferry, and the project has no flood damage reduction capability. Its authorized purposes are navigation and hydropower. Once inflow passes about 192,500 cubic feet per second, all seventeen spillway gates are fully open and the lake rises much as the river would with no dam there. Flowage easements cover the land that floods more often because of the project.
Who is Dannelly Reservoir named for?
William "Bill" Dannelly, born in Camden in 1911 and elected Wilcox County probate judge in 1958 and again in 1964. He sat on the board of the Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association and went with eight delegations to congressional committees to push development of the Alabama-Coosa system. He died in January 1969, and Congress gave the lake his name in December 1970.
How is the fishing at Millers Ferry?
State biologists rate largemouth and spotted bass as excellent, and fish of three pounds or more are common thanks to high fertility and steady threadfin shad. Largemouth hold in backwaters such as Alligator Slough, Pine Barren Creek and Gee's Bend, and spotted bass along deep points and bluff walls on the main river. Crappie bite best in late winter and early spring. Blue catfish over thirty pounds turn up in the tailwater below the dam.
Other lakes near Dannelly Reservoir (Millers Ferry)
- Demopolis LakeAL
- Bankhead LakeAL
- Lake GuntersvilleAL
- Woodruff Lake (Robert F. Henry)AL
- Lake Harding (Bartletts Ferry)GA/AL
- Wilson LakeAL
See current levels for all 21 Alabama lakes and reservoirs →
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