Paintsville Lake
Paintsville Lake is managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Huntington District. Lake Insights displays its latest available elevation from USACE LRH District. Published reference elevations are listed below.
Lake Status
At full pool
- 7-day trend
- Stable
- 7-day change
- No meaningful change
- 30-day change
- No meaningful change
- Last updated
- 11 hours ago
Paintsville Lake is currently near full pool and has remained relatively stable over the past seven days. Paintsville Lake is near its typical elevation and has shown little change over recent weeks.
Watershed drought conditions
Johnson County, KY · 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 Johnson County, KY
Key Facts
Managing authority
Waterbody / project type
Official purposes
Full pool
Datum
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
- 40,700 acre-ft
- Max storage
- 73,500 acre-ft
- Surface area at normal pool
- 1,139 acres
- Drainage area
- 93 sq mi
- Spillway capacity (design)
- 48,000 cfs
- Dam structure
- Rockfill · 160 ft high · completed 1980
- Hazard classification
- High
- Safety & inspection
- last inspection Feb 19, 2026 · EAP yes
National Inventory of Dams · matched record: Paintsville Dam (KY03066)
How this lake is operated
- Documented project purposes (National Inventory of Dams): Flood Risk Reduction, Fish and Wildlife Pond, Other, Recreation.
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
- 709.00 ft
Published reference elevation. Not necessarily a fixed year-round target for every project.
Current data source
Managing authority: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Huntington District
Observation source used by Lake Insights: USACE LRH District
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 USACE LRH District, 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 Paintsville Lake
- Who manages Paintsville Lake?
- Paintsville Lake is managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Huntington District. Lake Insights reports published gauge readings; it does not operate the waterbody.
- What is full pool at Paintsville Lake?
- The published full-pool elevation for Paintsville Lake is 709.00 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 Paintsville Lake?
- Lake Insights displays the latest available elevation for Paintsville Lake from USACE LRH District. The managing authority (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Huntington District) may differ from the agency that publishes the observation used on this page.
- What datum is used for Paintsville Lake?
- Elevations for Paintsville Lake are referenced to NGVD29 (MSL).
- What are the documented purposes of Paintsville Lake?
- Documented purposes for Paintsville Lake (National Inventory of Dams): Flood Risk Reduction, Fish and Wildlife Pond, Other, Recreation.