Castaic Lake is managed by California DWR / Castaic Lake Water Agency. Lake Insights displays its latest available elevation from California Data Exchange Center. Published reference elevations are listed below.
17.86 feet below full pool
−17.86 ft vs full pool
Castaic Lake is currently 17.86 feet below full pool and has been falling over the past week. The lake remains below full pool; 30-day change down 10.95 ft.
Los Angeles County, CA · U.S. Drought Monitor county statistics at the lake location (not a lake-specific designation)
No Drought
No USDM drought categories are reported for Los Angeles County, CA. These figures describe the surrounding county from the lake location, not the lake itself.
Severity
Weekly trend
Stable
Compared with last week
Official drought (D1–D4)
No
Abnormally Dry (D0) is present in the surrounding county, but D0 is not counted as official drought (D1–D4).
U.S. Drought Monitor · map date Oct 20, 2026. Updated weekly. Official drought means U.S. Drought Monitor categories D1–D4 (Moderate through Exceptional). Abnormally Dry (D0) is not counted as official drought. droughtmonitor.unl.eduView drought map for Los Angeles County, CA
Managing authority
Waterbody / project type
Full pool
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.
Published reference elevation. Not necessarily a fixed year-round target for every project.
Managing authority: California DWR / Castaic Lake Water Agency
Observation source used by Lake Insights: California Data Exchange Center
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.
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 California Data Exchange Center, 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.
1,497.14 ft
FallingClear · 11.4 mph NNW
Current-level source
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.
Good
Best window: 6:25 PM–7:25 PM
Level 2 days ago · Weather 2 hours ago · Sandberg