Marion Reservoir Water Level
Kansas · Cottonwood River
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Water level history
About Marion Reservoir
Marion Reservoir is a reservoir on the Cottonwood River in Kansas, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1350.5 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Marion Reservoir's water level
Marion Reservoir sits on the Cottonwood River about three miles northwest of Marion, Kansas, and it does not work alone. The Corps of Engineers operates it as one unit of a three-reservoir system with Council Grove Lake and John Redmond Reservoir, designed together for flood management and low-flow regulation in the upper Neosho valley. That system logic shows up in real decisions: in May 2019 Marion held water back specifically because John Redmond, downstream, was already extremely high.
The pool numbers are tight. Conservation pool is 1,350.5 feet, the top of the flood-control pool is 1,358.5, and the surcharge pool tops out at 1,360, with three forty-by-forty-foot tainter gates on the spillway. In May 2019 the lake crested at 1,357.17 feet, about eight feet above conservation pool and a foot and a half below the top of the gates, with campsites closed and only the Marion Cove ramp still usable. The lake is also shallow, averaging around eleven feet deep with a maximum near thirty, which matters more than the elevation numbers suggest.
That shallowness, combined with a watershed that is 43 percent row crops, is why Marion has a water-quality story rather than a drawdown story. The first recorded bloom was in 2003, and blue-green algae have returned nearly every year since, with Kansas health officials posting watches, warnings and occasionally hazard advisories that are updated weekly through the summer. In June 2016 warnings ran three consecutive weeks and the Corps reported visitation falling. Hillsboro pumps its drinking water seven miles from the reservoir and also supplies Peabody. One point of local confusion worth settling: Marion County Lake is a completely separate 153-acre water body southeast of town, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and it gets its own separate advisories.
Marion Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Marion Reservoir's full pool elevation?
The top of the conservation pool is 1,350.5 feet above sea level. The top of the flood-control pool is 1,358.5 feet and the surcharge pool reaches 1,360 feet, with the top of the dam at 1,368. The flood band is only eight feet, so the lake moves into flood operation quickly after heavy rain on the Cottonwood.
Why is Marion Reservoir sometimes closed to swimming?
Blue-green algae. Blooms were first recorded in 2003 and have recurred nearly every year since, driven by nutrient runoff from a watershed that is largely row crops. Kansas health officials post watch, warning and hazard advisories and update them weekly in summer. Swimming beaches close under a warning while boat ramps typically stay open.
How high did Marion Reservoir get in the 2019 flood?
It crested at 1,357.17 feet on 12 May 2019, roughly eight feet above conservation pool and about a foot and a half below the top of the spillway gates, which made it the third highest pool in the reservoir's history. Campsites stayed closed through Memorial Day and Marion Cove was the only boat ramp left open.
Is Marion Reservoir the same as Marion County Lake?
No, and the two are regularly confused. Marion Reservoir is the Corps of Engineers flood-control lake northwest of Marion. Marion County Lake is a separate 153-acre county lake about a mile and a half southeast of town, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps starting in 1936. They are sampled separately and can carry different algae advisories on the same day.
Where can you launch a boat on Marion Reservoir?
The developed areas are Cottonwood Point, which has two ramps and four lanes plus fifty-amp camping, Hillsboro Cove with a ramp and swimming beach, Marion Cove with a two-lane ramp, and French Creek Cove. There are also free undeveloped ramps at Durham Cove and Broken Bridge, and accessible fishing at Broken Bridge on the river.
What fish are in Marion Reservoir?
Walleye, crappie, wipers and channel catfish are the year-round targets, with brush piles set in the main lake at eight to twelve feet. The surrounding Marion Wildlife Area covers around 12,210 acres, and an 800-acre waterfowl refuge along French Creek is closed to hunting year-round and to all activity from October through February.
Other lakes near Marion Reservoir
- Melvern LakeKS
- John Redmond ReservoirKS
- Toronto LakeKS
- Fall River LakeKS
- Wilson LakeKS
- Elk City LakeKS
See current levels for all 12 Kansas lakes and reservoirs →
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