Lake Nacimiento is managed by Monterey County Water Resources Agency. Lake Insights displays its latest available elevation from California Data Exchange Center. Published reference elevations are listed below.
Lake Status
51.88 feet below full pool
−51.88 ft vs full pool
- 7-day trend
- Falling
- 7-day change
- Down 1.78 ft
- 30-day change
- Down 7.54 ft
- Last updated
- Sep 10 • 12:00 AM
Lake Nacimiento is currently 51.88 feet below full pool and has been falling over the past week. Readings show continued drawdown relative to full pool, with levels trending lower over the past week.
Watershed drought conditions
San Luis Obispo 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 San Luis Obispo County, CA
Key Facts
Managing authority
Waterbody / project type
Full pool
Flood stage
Datum
Current-level source
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
- 800.00 ft
- Flood stage
- 801.00 ft
Published reference elevation. Not necessarily a fixed year-round target for every project.
Flood stage is not interchangeable with flood pool.
Current data source
Managing authority: Monterey County Water Resources 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.
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 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.
Common questions about Lake Nacimiento
- Who manages Lake Nacimiento?
- Lake Nacimiento is managed by Monterey County Water Resources Agency. Lake Insights reports published gauge readings; it does not operate the waterbody.
- What is full pool at Lake Nacimiento?
- The published full-pool elevation for Lake Nacimiento is 800.00 ft (NGVD29). Full pool is a published reference elevation — not a prediction of today’s level.
- Where does Lake Insights get the level reading for Lake Nacimiento?
- Lake Insights displays the latest available elevation for Lake Nacimiento from California Data Exchange Center. The managing authority (Monterey County Water Resources Agency) may differ from the agency that publishes the observation used on this page.
- What datum is used for Lake Nacimiento?
- Elevations for Lake Nacimiento are referenced to NGVD29 (MSL).