Lake Buchanan water level
Lake Buchanan is at 1019.50 ft above mean sea level — 0.50 ft below its full level of 1020.0 ft.
1020.0 ft
22,452 acres
866,694 ac-ft
The level, back to 2016
Last 365 days: median 1018.6 ft, range 1017.4–1020.0 ft, with 235 days more than a foot below full.
Why Lake Buchanan rises and falls
Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis are the two reservoirs that store water for the entire Highland Lakes chain. When floods come down the Colorado or the Llano, these two hold the water; through drought, they give it up. Their levels are supposed to move.
That is why LCRA manages the system by the combined storage of Buchanan and Travis — the level of any one lake tells only half the story. The chain overview shows the combined figure live.
Lake Buchanan is the chain's upper storage reservoir, completed in 1938 — the first of the Highland Lakes dams. It is fed by the upper Colorado River, while much of Lake Travis's flood inflow arrives from the Llano and Pedernales, which join the river downstream of here — so the two storage lakes often fill and fall at different times.
A quirk worth knowing: the official full level is 1020.0 ft, but decades of sedimentation have shrunk the surveyed capacity beneath it. Storage-based percent-full and the elevation no longer line up exactly — the lake can read around 99% full while sitting half a foot below 1020 ft.
Lake Travis water level — common questions
What is the water level of Lake Buchanan today?
Lake Buchanan is at 1019.50 feet above mean sea level, 0.50 ft below its full level of 1020.0 ft.
Why does Lake Buchanan rise and fall so much?
Lake Buchanan is one of only two Highland Lakes that store water — it absorbs floods and supplies water through droughts for the whole lower Colorado system, so its level is designed to swing. The pass-through lakes between the storage lakes are held near constant instead.
How big is Lake Buchanan?
Lake Buchanan covers about 22,452 acres when full and holds 866,694 acre-feet at its conservation pool of 1020.0 ft. It is formed by Buchanan Dam, completed in 1938.
The lake that does move: Lake Travis — level & 10-day forecast · all six Highland Lakes. Source: Texas Water Development Board (Water Data For Texas), daily record · daily record since June 30, 1937.