Ridgway Reservoir Water Level
Ridgway Reservoir is at 6,851.09 ft today (Oct 30), 20.04 ft below its 6,871.13 ft full pool, unchanged this week.
Colorado · Uncompahgre River
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Water level history
About Ridgway Reservoir
Ridgway Reservoir is a reservoir on the Uncompahgre River in Colorado, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Its full summer pool sits at 6871.13 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Ridgway Reservoir's water level
Ridgway Reservoir is the storage pool of Reclamation's Dallas Creek Project, a plan that dates to shortly after World War II. Construction ran from 1978 to 1987, and USGS lists the rolled earthfill dam as complete on March 22, 1988. It stands 332.9 feet high with a crest 2,465 feet long, six miles north of the town of Ridgway on the Uncompahgre River, and it collects runoff from 265 square miles of the northern San Juans. Building it meant moving U.S. 550 to the east, and it ended the Denver and Rio Grande Western's Ridgway Branch, the old line up from Montrose; the last freight ran on November 29, 1976, and the rails came up in 1977. Reclamation owns the dam through its Western Colorado Area Office in Grand Junction, and the Tri-County Water Conservancy District in Montrose operates it. The project built no canals of its own. Water released here runs down the Uncompahgre to existing ditches and to systems built by Tri-County and other water users, serving farms, towns and industry in the Uncompahgre Valley.
The number to watch is 6,871.13 feet, the top of the joint use pool and the full mark this page uses. Reclamation puts the top of the active conservation pool at 6,841.8 feet, so roughly the upper 29 feet is joint use space that also carries the dam's flood control role. Below that sit the inactive pool, topping out at 6,798.6 feet, and dead storage under 6,720. The spillway crest is a hair higher than full, at 6,871.3 feet, and USGS puts live capacity at 84,590 acre feet. A normal year is a spring rise and a summer slide. In water year 2003 the lake gained 11,510 acre feet in May alone, reached 6,871.49 feet by the end of the month, then fell about fourteen and a half feet by the end of August as irrigation water went downstream. The outlet works pass up to 500 cubic feet per second. Park staff warn that levels change often and expose unmarked hazards, and in spring 2026 the park manager expected the lake to fill by early July and then drop quickly after the Fourth because of downstream demand.
The dam was built with pipes through it for a future powerhouse, and that plant came online in June 2014 under a lease of power privilege Reclamation granted Tri-County in February 2012. Two units sit at the base of the dam: a 0.8 megawatt turbine for winter flows of 30 to 60 cubic feet per second and a 7.2 megawatt unit for summer releases near 500. The plant averages about 24,000 megawatt hours a year, and its output follows the irrigation releases rather than setting them. Ridgway State Park surrounds the lake of about 1,000 acres. CPW lists rainbow and brown trout, kokanee, splake, yellow perch and recently introduced walleye. Smallmouth bass are the problem. They were stocked illegally, and CPW asks anglers to kill every one, because bass that escape downstream can prey on the endangered native fish of the Colorado River basin. A screen now covers the dam outlet, and the 2022 tournament removed 5,569 bass and cut the estimated adult population from 1,302 to 274. The mile of river below the dam at Pa-Co-Chu-Puk is catch and release water, artificial flies and lures only.
Ridgway Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Ridgway Reservoir's full pool elevation?
6,871.13 feet, which Reclamation lists as the top of the joint use pool. The spillway crest is just above it at 6,871.3 feet, the design maximum water surface is 6,880 feet, and the top of the dam is 6,888.5 feet. At the spillway crest the reservoir holds 84,590 acre feet of live storage, according to USGS. Tri-County's own figure is 84,600 acre feet.
What is the highest Ridgway Reservoir has been?
The USGS record for the gauge, covering October 1988 through 2003, peaks at 6,872.93 feet on June 11, 1990, with 84,900 acre feet in storage. That was the year the reservoir first filled, and it put water about a foot and a half over the spillway crest. The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward, and its high is 6,871.59 feet in 2024.
What is the lowest Ridgway Reservoir has been?
In the USGS record from October 1988 through 2003, the minimum was 6,834.93 feet on June 2, 1995, with 49,810 acre feet in storage, about 36 feet below full. The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward, and its low is 6,835.79 feet in 2020. Both sit below 6,841.8 feet, the top of the active conservation pool.
Why does Ridgway Reservoir drop every summer?
It is irrigation storage. Spring runoff fills it, and from midsummer on the releases go down the Uncompahgre to the valley around Montrose. The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association keeps a storage account here, about 21,000 acre feet in 2021. In the dry 2026 season it opened at a 50 percent allocation, got no natural flow from the Uncompahgre or Cow Creek, and set out to hold Ridgway water until mid July.
When can you launch a boat at Ridgway Reservoir?
The main ramp is the four lane ramp at Dutch Charlie, with a required aquatic nuisance species inspection at the top for motorboats and sailboats. The reservoir is closed to motorized boating from November 1 through March 31. In 2026 the ramp opened April 1, and the park manager said Ridgway stays boatable, with the ramp open, even at low water. Dallas Creek takes only hand launched, nonmotorized craft.
Does Ridgway Dam generate electricity?
Yes, since June 2014. Tri-County built the roughly $18 million plant under a 2012 lease of power privilege from Reclamation. A 0.8 megawatt unit runs alone on winter flows of 30 to 60 cubic feet per second, and a 7.2 megawatt unit takes the summer releases near 500. Average output is about 24,000 megawatt hours a year, sold to Tri-State, Telluride, Delta-Montrose Electric and San Miguel Power, with Aspen buying winter renewable credits.
Why does CPW want smallmouth bass removed from Ridgway Reservoir?
They were put in illegally, and CPW says it cannot manage for them. Bass that get past the dam can survive in the Uncompahgre and eat young native fish, including species listed as endangered downstream. There is no bag or possession limit, and anglers are asked to keep every bass. The 2022 Smallmouth Bass Classic took out 5,569 of them, and CPW is working on a plan to stock sterile walleye instead.
Other lakes near Ridgway Reservoir
- Vallecito ReservoirCO
- Paonia ReservoirCO
- Blue Mesa ReservoirCO
- Lemon ReservoirCO
- Chatfield ReservoirCO
- Cherry Creek ReservoirCO
See current levels for all 7 Colorado lakes and reservoirs →
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