Methodology
Data sources
Every figure on this site is traceable to a public source. When an agency does not publish a number for a lake, the page says so instead of estimating it.
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| U.S. Geological Survey Water Services | Water surface elevation and water temperature at lake gauges, updated every 15 minutes. Public domain. |
| Texas Water Development Board | Conservation pool elevation, current elevation and percent full for 122 Texas reservoirs. |
| California Data Exchange Center | Daily reservoir elevation and storage for California reservoirs, published by the Department of Water Resources. |
| U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Reference pool elevations and daily lake reports for Corps projects, including the Lake Okeechobee daily status. |
| Wikidata | Coordinates, surface area, depth, rivers and identifiers. CC0. |
| Wikipedia | Background facts, paraphrased and cited. CC BY-SA 4.0. |
| OpenStreetMap | Named beaches, swimming areas and boat ramps, with their tags. ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors. |
| Wikimedia Commons | Photographs, each credited to its author with its licence shown under the image. |
| Open-Meteo | Air temperature, wind and forecast. CC BY 4.0. |
How we handle images
We prefer photographs with an explicit licence, from Wikimedia Commons, from openly licensed collections and from federal agencies whose work is in the public domain. Every image carries its author, its licence and a link to the original page. If you own an image on this site and want it removed, write to us and we will take it down.
How we handle water level
Readings are refreshed from the source agency and stamped with the reading time. Percent full is the ratio of current conservation storage to conservation capacity as the agency reports it, not our own calculation. When a lake has no public gauge we publish no level chart for it.