Carter Lake water level today
Storage at Carter Lake in the South Platte basin (Division 1), from Colorado DWR's daily reading.
About Carter Lake
Carter Lake is one of the 6 reservoirs BasinMind follows in the South Platte basin, Division 1 of Colorado's seven water divisions. BasinMind's registry lists its operator as Northern Water / USBR (C-BT). Its recorded capacity is 112,230 acre-feet, the second-largest of the 6 and 28% of the capacity BasinMind tracks in the division.
On October 3, 2026 it held 66,709 acre-feet, 59% of that capacity, with room for about 45,521 acre-feet more. Over the seven days before, storage fell by 2,408 acre-feet. Taken together, the division's reservoirs with a current reading stood at 65% of capacity (259,607 of 400,010 acre-feet).
Daily storage comes from the Colorado Division of Water Resources, DWR station CARTERCO; the official record is on that station's page. The nearest stream gauge BasinMind reads is Big Thompson River above Dille Tunnel near Drake, about 7 miles away in a straight line.
An acre-foot is the water that would cover one acre a foot deep, about 325,851 gallons; percent full compares storage with recorded capacity, not with what is normal for the date (cfs and acre-feet).
Other reservoirs in the South Platte basin
- Horsetooth Reservoir · 79% full
- Chatfield Reservoir · 56% full
- Cherry Creek Reservoir · 78% full
- Spinney Mountain Reservoir · 30% full
- Button Rock (Ralph Price) Reservoir · 96% full
Stream gauges in the South Platte basin
- South Platte River above Cheesman Lake
- South Platte River below Brush Creek near Trumbull
- South Platte River below Union Avenue at Englewood
- South Platte River at Englewood
- South Platte River at 64th Avenue, Commerce City
- South Platte River at Fort Lupton
- South Platte River at Fort Morgan