Harlan County Lake Water Level
Harlan County Lake is at 1,932.85 ft today (Oct 31), 12.88 ft below its 1,945.73 ft full pool, up 0.04 ft this week.
Nebraska · Republican River
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Water level history
About Harlan County Lake
Harlan County Lake is a reservoir on the Republican River in Nebraska, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1945.73 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Harlan County Lake's water level
Harlan County Lake exists because of the night of 31 May 1935, when a wall of water came down the Republican River out of eastern Colorado and southwest Nebraska. Gages near Culbertson and at Concordia, Kansas, recorded peaks above 200,000 cubic feet per second, and the flood took the south side of Republican City with it. The National Weather Service counts it as the worst flood in Nebraska history. The town later moved to higher ground about two miles north, and the Army Corps of Engineers placed its dam between the old town site and Naponee, roughly two miles south of today's Republican City. Completed in 1952, the earthen dam stands 107 feet high, runs more than two miles across the valley, and controls about 7,600 square miles of drainage. The Kansas City District still runs it from the project office at Republican City. At full pool the lake covers a little over 13,000 acres, which makes it the second largest lake in Nebraska.
The number that matters is 1,945.7 feet, the top of the conservation pool. Below that line the water belongs mostly to irrigation. The Bureau of Reclamation's Bostwick Division draws on 193,060 acre-feet of irrigation storage, and from about early June the Corps releases water to two districts. The Franklin and Naponee canals and the Franklin South Side Pump Canal take water right at the dam for the Bostwick Irrigation District in Nebraska. Further downstream, the Superior-Courtland Diversion Dam near Guide Rock turns the rest into the Courtland Canal, which fills Lovewell Reservoir for the Kansas Bostwick Irrigation District, roughly 42,500 acres around Courtland. Outside the irrigation season the dam generally holds water back. That is why the lake typically peaks in June and then falls through late summer and fall, in the recent dry years six to nine feet below full, and why a dry year upstream shows up as a lake that never fills. Above 1,945.7 feet sits about 509,000 acre-feet of flood storage.
That flood pool got its real test in 2019. The lake filled its conservation pool in March for the first time since 2012, took in more than 400,000 acre-feet over the year, the most since 1967, and climbed past the 1960 record to about 1,958 feet in late July, more than 12 feet over full. Beaches and low campgrounds went under, dirt banks collapsed, and the Corps held water back all summer to keep from adding to flooding downstream. The opposite problem arrived in 2025. With the lake near 1,937 feet in July, the Corps closed the Methodist Cove ramp, and by mid-August, near 1,935.7 feet, it had also closed the Gremlin Cove ramp and access to the North Shore Marina because of low water and heavy sediment. Sediment is a standing issue here: a $9.25 million aquatic habitat project begun in January 2024 with Nebraska Game and Parks set out to dredge the blocked entrance to Methodist Cove and build spawning and overwintering areas for fish.
Harlan County Lake — frequently asked
What is Harlan County Lake's full pool elevation?
1,945.7 feet above sea level, the top of the conservation pool. Water stored below that line is mostly reserved for irrigation through the Bureau of Reclamation's Bostwick Division. The roughly 509,000 acre-feet of space above it is flood storage that the Corps of Engineers keeps empty in normal years and drains slowly after a flood, because the Republican River below the dam can only carry so much.
Why is Harlan County Lake so low?
Usually a combination of thin inflow and irrigation. Releases for the Nebraska and Kansas Bostwick districts start around early June, and evaporation takes a large share as well, about 44,000 acre-feet in 2024 against total outflow of about 65,000. The conservation pool did not fill in 2024; it peaked near 1,943 feet in June and ended the year about eight feet below full, and by mid-August 2025 it had slipped to about 1,935.7 feet.
What is the record high level at Harlan County Lake?
About 1,958 feet in July 2019, more than 12 feet above the top of the conservation pool. The Bureau of Reclamation lists the peak as 1,958.17 feet on 23 July, 2.51 feet above the previous record set in 1960, while the Corps cited 1,958.08 feet on 18 July in news coverage. Flood releases began that March and totaled more than 270,000 acre-feet for the year. The Recent high in the gauge panel above only reaches back a few years, so it shows 2021 rather than the 2019 peak.
Which boat ramps are open at low water?
The Corps maintains low-water ramps for dry years. In August 2025 it said the Cedar Point low-water ramp is usable down to about 1,935.5 feet and the Hunter Cove low-water ramp to about 1,932 feet, though Hunter Cove needed road repairs first. Methodist Cove and Gremlin Cove ramps were closed that summer as the lake dropped. The Harlan County Lake Facebook page carries ramp updates from the project office.
When does Harlan County Lake refill?
Most of the year's gain comes in spring, while the dam is holding water back before irrigation season. The lake usually tops out in June, when irrigation releases begin and the pool is split, and then drops through fall. Whether it reaches 1,945.7 feet depends on rain and runoff upstream; it filled in 2019 for the first time since 2012, but stayed about eight feet short in 2024 and was nearly nine feet below full at the end of July 2025.
How does the Republican River Compact affect Harlan County Lake?
Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska divide the Republican River under the compact, and Harlan County Lake is where much of the accounting lands. Under a 2017 resolution, Kansas can ask for part of Nebraska's projected shortfall to be delivered into the lake by 1 June. Evaporation from that water is charged to Kansas, and the rest of the lake's evaporation is split between the two states by their Bostwick diversions.
How is the fishing at Harlan County Lake?
Nebraska Game and Parks surveys show walleye mostly from a strong 2021 year class, averaging about 17.5 inches, with poor recruitment since then. Wipers of 16 to 22 inches are the most dependable catch, white bass numbers are well below their ten year average, and good numbers of 10 to 12 inch crappie remain. Biologists say low water cuts spawning habitat and the survival of small fish, and stocking of about 12 million walleye fry was reduced for 2025 because of lower water.
Other lakes near Harlan County Lake
- Lewis and Clark LakeSD/NE
- Lake McConaughyNE
- Milford LakeKS
- Big Hill LakeKS
- Bighorn LakeMT/WY
- Blue Springs LakeMO
See current levels for all 3 Nebraska lakes and reservoirs →
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