Paint Creek Lake Water Level
Paint Creek Lake is at 793.43 ft today (Oct 31), 4.57 ft below its 798 ft full pool, down 1.07 ft this week.
Ohio · Paint Creek
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Water level history
About Paint Creek Lake
Paint Creek Lake is a reservoir on the Paint Creek in Ohio, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 798 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Paint Creek Lake's water level
Paint Creek Lake is a Corps of Engineers flood control reservoir in Highland and Ross counties, built where Paint Creek runs through limestone country near Bainbridge. Congress authorized it under the Flood Control Act of 1938, construction began in 1967, and the dam was finished in 1973. The Corps started storing water in March 1974 and the lake first reached summer pool that May. The main dam is an earth and rockfill embankment 118 feet tall, and the spillway carries three tainter gates, each 57 feet wide and 37 feet high. A dike stands at the right end of the spillway, and seven miles upstream a levee keeps the rising lake away from the Greenfield wastewater plant. Below the dam the creek flows east past Bainbridge and joins the Scioto River just south of Chillicothe. Flood risk reduction is the main job, but the project also holds water supply storage for Greenfield and releases water to support low flows and water quality downstream toward Chillicothe.
The number to watch is 798 feet, the summer recreation pool. On the Corps guide curve the lake sits at 787.5 feet through the winter, which is also the top of the water supply storage. Filling starts in early April and the curve reaches 798 by mid April. The fall drawdown back to 787.5 is scheduled for October and November, though in practice it often runs late: in 2025 the lake held near 798 into early November and was still around 794 in mid December. Everything above 798 is flood storage, which runs up to 845 feet, and the Corps treats 833 feet as its flood threat level. The top of the dam is at 864. When heavy rain falls on the upper basin the lake can climb thirty or forty feet in a few days, backing up the shallow Rattlesnake Creek arm and spreading over normally dry ground in the Paint Creek Wildlife Area before the Corps lets the water back out.
The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward. Its high of 834.58 feet came on 8 April 2025, after the storms of April 2 to 6 that flooded much of the Ohio Valley. The lake rose from about 790 feet on April 1 to that crest a week later, more than a foot past the flood threat level, and was back at summer pool by April 18. The panel's low, 786.02 feet on 19 March 2025, was simply the bottom of that winter's pool just before spring filling began. The Corps daily record, which reaches back to 1974, holds bigger floods: 842.17 feet on 14 January 2005 and 841.65 feet on 13 May 1996, both within about three feet of the top of flood storage. Drought shows up here too. In the dry late summer of 2024 the lake slid to about 790.5 feet by late September, and the National Weather Service in Wilmington reported Paint Creek as the lowest of the area Corps lakes, seven feet below summer level.
Paint Creek Lake — frequently asked
What is Paint Creek Lake's full pool?
Summer pool is 798 feet, and that is the level the state's depth map is drawn to. Winter pool is 787.5 feet. Anything above 798 is flood storage, held only until it can be released; the flood control pool tops out at 845 feet, and the dam crest is at 864. At summer pool the lake covers a little under 1,200 acres, with the deepest water, about 50 feet, near the dam.
When does Paint Creek Lake draw down and refill?
The Corps guide curve holds the lake at 787.5 feet from December through March, fills it to 798 during the first half of April, and keeps it there through the summer. The fall drawdown is scheduled for October and November but has recently started later, in early November in 2025. Spring storms can push the lake well above summer pool during refill, as in April 2025, when it crested at 834.58 feet.
What is the record high level at Paint Creek Lake?
The Corps lists its pool of record as 842.5 feet. The highest daily reading in the Corps record since 1974 is 842.17 feet on 14 January 2005, with 841.65 feet on 13 May 1996 close behind. Both came within about three feet of the 845 foot top of flood storage. The highest level since the current gauge record began in 2020 is 834.58 feet on 8 April 2025.
Why is Paint Creek Lake so low?
Most of the time a low lake is just winter pool. From late fall to early April the Corps holds the level near 787.5 feet, more than ten feet under summer pool, which leaves shallow coves and the Rattlesnake Creek arm thin. Summer lows come from drought. By late September 2024 the lake had fallen to about 790.5 feet, roughly seven feet down, during a dry spell that left parts of the lower Scioto basin in exceptional drought.
What is the lowest Paint Creek Lake has been?
Leaving out the first weeks of filling in 1974, the lowest daily reading in the Corps record is 778.8 feet on 29 January 1984, during a winter when the pool sat about nine feet under its usual winter level from December 1983 into March 1984. In a normal year the low comes in late winter at or just below 787.5 feet; in 2025 it was 786.02 feet on 19 March.
What is the fishing like at Paint Creek Lake?
The fishery grew from fish already living in the creeks, and the state began stocking saugeye in 1982. The lake holds largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, white and black crappie, bluegill, white bass and channel and flathead catfish. In a 2010 forecast state biologists called the tailwater below the dam one of the best saugeye spots in Ohio, best from November to May after high releases. Flooded timber, stumps and limestone rock along the steep south shore hold fish.
Who runs Paint Creek Lake?
The Corps of Engineers Huntington District runs the dam, the outlet works and the campground and day use area at the dam site. Ohio Department of Natural Resources licenses most of the surrounding land: the state lands hold the marina, seasonal rental docks and three boat ramps, and the Division of Wildlife manages the Paint Creek Wildlife Area at the upper end of the lake, where flood water spreads over the bottomland during high pools.
Other lakes near Paint Creek Lake
- Piedmont LakeOH
- Leesville LakeOH
- Pleasant Hill LakeOH
- Dillon LakeOH
- Senecaville LakeOH
- Delaware LakeOH
See current levels for all 16 Ohio lakes and reservoirs →
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