San Luis Reservoir water level
Offstream (California Aqueduct) · California · operated by USBR / CA DWR (San Luis Dam)
By Michael, independent developer behind zovo.one. Readings pulled live from the same CDEC feed the operator reports to.
San Luis Reservoir is 66% full as of Nov 4, 2026, per CDEC data; 57.4 ft below full pool.
Is that normal for the date?
At 485.56 ft, San Luis Reservoir is higher than 81% of Novembers in 39 years of daily record.
The median for this date across 39 years is 435.69 ft, so this is +49.87 ft against the lake’s own history. Placed on a quantile ladder built from 13,551 daily readings published by CDEC for site SNL, 1988-01-04 to 2026-08-06. This reservoir typically peaks in April and bottoms out in August.
San Luis Reservoir today: level, trend, source and access
Level against full pool
On Nov 4, 2026 the surface sat at 485.6 ft, 57.4 ft below the full-pool mark of 543 ft. It held 1,345,138 acre-feet of its 2,041,000 acre-foot capacity (66% full), so it needs about 696,000 acre-feet more to fill. CDEC put its storage at 144% of the historical average for Nov 4, at or above a normal year for the date. Of the 12 California lakes on this site with a live percent-full reading, it ranks 5 of 12.
Trend
Between Oct 6 and Nov 4 (29 days) the level fell 12.6 ft, about 3.0 ft a week. The high in that window was 498.5 ft on Oct 7 and the low was 485.6 ft on Nov 4. In the last 7 days it fell 3.5 ft. The last 24 hours moved it down 0.32 ft.
Data source
The elevation comes from California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) station SNL (California Department of Water Resources), last reported Nov 4, 2026. Percent full is CDEC storage divided by the capacity CDEC lists for the dam. Feet from full pool, the trend and the figures above are computed from that reading and the published full-pool elevation; none is typed by hand. USBR / CA DWR (San Luis Dam) runs the dam on the Offstream (California Aqueduct).
Recreation status
Status: below normal. At 66% full it is 6.0 points above 60%, the line above which most ramps stay in the water, so a normal ramp day is likely. Ramps still close on their own schedules, so check yours with USBR / CA DWR (San Luis Dam). If the 30-day pace of 3.0 ft a week down held, the surface would be near 473.4 ft in four weeks. Releases and rain change that quickly.
To see where today sits against every monthly reading since 1968, the San Luis Reservoir water level chart plots the whole CDEC storage record and ranks the latest month against the same month in every year.
Check an elevation against full pool
For readers outside the U.S., the surface of San Luis Reservoir is about 148.0 m above sea level, and full pool is about 165.5 m.
Check any elevation yourself. Type a level in feet above sea level (a ramp cutoff, a marina mark) to see how far it sits below full pool and in meters.