Lake Cachuma
Lake Cachuma is managed by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation / Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board. Lake Insights displays its latest available elevation from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). Published reference elevations are listed below.
Lake Status
8.26 feet below full pool
−8.26 ft vs full pool
- 7-day trend
- Falling
- 7-day change
- Down 0.14 ft
- 30-day change
- Down 0.14 ft
- Last updated
- Sep 10 • 1:00 AM
Lake Cachuma is currently 8.26 feet below full pool and has fallen slightly over the past week. Readings show continued drawdown relative to full pool, with levels trending lower over the past week.
Watershed drought conditions
Santa Barbara County, CA · surrounding county from lake location
No Drought
No official drought conditions.
Severity
Weekly trend
Stable
Compared with last week
Official drought
No
No official drought is reported for the surrounding watershed.
U.S. Drought Monitor · map date Sep 8, 2026. Updated weekly. droughtmonitor.unl.eduView drought map for Santa Barbara County, CA
Key Facts
Managing authority
Waterbody / project type
Official purposes
Full pool
Current-level source
Project / NID identifier
Dam / watershed (NID design values)
Static design values from a confidently matched National Inventory of Dams record — not live gage readings.
- Normal storage
- 172,500 acre-ft
- Max storage
- 206,900 acre-ft
- Surface area at normal pool
- 3,090 acres
- Drainage area
- 417 sq mi
- Spillway capacity (design)
- 159,500 cfs
- Dam structure
- Earth · 279 ft high · completed 1953
- Hazard classification
- High
- Safety & inspection
- last inspection Feb 16, 2023
National Inventory of Dams · matched record: Bradbury Dam (CA10136)
How this lake is operated
- Documented project purposes (National Inventory of Dams): Irrigation, Water Supply.
Why the level can change
General factors for reservoirs like this
These are common influences for this type of lake. They do not identify the cause of a specific current change unless an operator update confirms it.
Rainfall & inflows
Rain and upstream river inflows can raise reservoir levels, especially after storms.
Downstream releases
When an operator releases water through a dam, reservoir storage can fall and downstream flows can rise.
Flood-risk operations
Some projects store or release water under flood-risk rules when conditions require it.
Water supply
Some reservoirs support municipal, industrial, irrigation, or regional water-supply needs.
Hydropower
Hydropower projects may pass water through turbines when generating electricity.
Seasonal weather
Dry periods, heat, evaporation, and seasonal rainfall patterns can affect storage over weeks and months.
Published reference elevations
- Full pool
- 753.00 ft
Published reference elevation. Not necessarily a fixed year-round target for every project.
Current data source
Managing authority: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation / Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board
Observation source used by Lake Insights: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)
Who manages the lake and who publishes the reading Lake Insights displays can differ. Lake Insights does not invent a source label from the managing authority alone.
General education
Shared background — not lake-specific facts
Lake Insights aggregates water level information from authoritative public sources such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, TVA, Bureau of Reclamation, power utilities, and other official lake operators. We preserve historical observations, calculate trends, and present lake conditions in a consistent format. For U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), we link to the official source whenever it is available. Lake Insights does not predict future lake levels unless an official forecast has been published by the managing authority.
Common questions about Lake Cachuma
- Who manages Lake Cachuma?
- Lake Cachuma is managed by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation / Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board. Lake Insights reports published gauge readings; it does not operate the waterbody.
- What is full pool at Lake Cachuma?
- The published full-pool elevation for Lake Cachuma is 753.00 ft. Full pool is a published reference elevation — not a prediction of today’s level.
- Where does Lake Insights get the level reading for Lake Cachuma?
- Lake Insights displays the latest available elevation for Lake Cachuma from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The managing authority (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation / Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board) may differ from the agency that publishes the observation used on this page.
- What are the documented purposes of Lake Cachuma?
- Documented purposes for Lake Cachuma (National Inventory of Dams): Irrigation, Water Supply.