Dams

Highland Lakes dams

What each of the six dams on the Colorado River is releasing, hour by hour, with its lake level and floodgate status.

Mansfield Dam · Lake Travis

Latest release

FloodgatesGates closed

Hour by hour

Hourly peak · Fri, Nov 13

2,526cfs

At 2 AM · hourly average 2,469 cfs

  • Day average

Drag across the chart to read an hour

  1. 12 AM: 2,525 cfs
  2. 1 AM: 2,525 cfs
  3. 2 AM: 2,526 cfs
  4. 3 AM: 2,525 cfs
  5. 4 AM: 2,526 cfs
  6. 5 AM: 2,525 cfs
  7. 6 AM: 2,493 cfs
  8. 7 AM: 2,445 cfs
  9. 8 AM: 2,456 cfs
  10. 9 AM: 2,456 cfs
  11. 10 AM: 2,456 cfs
  12. 11 AM: 2,456 cfs
  13. 12 PM: 2,456 cfs
  14. 1 PM: 2,456 cfs
  15. 2 PM: 2,456 cfs
  16. 3 PM: 2,456 cfs
  17. 4 PM: 2,456 cfs
  18. 5 PM: 2,456 cfs
  19. 6 PM: 2,456 cfs
  20. 7 PM: 2,456 cfs
  21. 8 PM: 2,456 cfs
  22. 9 PM: 2,454 cfs
  23. 10 PM: 2,400 cfs
  24. 11 PM: 2,385 cfs

Yesterday’s report

Released yesterday,

1,595.8 million gal
Average flow
2,469 cfs
Peak flow
2,526 cfs

At Mansfield Dam

Nov 14, 3:50 PM CST
Lake level
681.4 ft0.4 ft above full pool
Below the dam
494.2 ft
Without floodgates
9,870 cfsthe most it can release without opening a floodgate
Floodgates
Gates closed
LCRA on the gates:
No gate operations to pass floodwaters are expected.
Inflows:
Inflows to Lake Travis are below levels that would require gate operations to pass floodwaters at Mansfield Dam.
Forecast:
Expected elevation range is 681 - 681.5 ft msl over the next 24 to 48 hours.

Releases can start suddenly — stay out of the water near the dams. Unofficial copy of LCRA’s flood operations report.

All six dams

Upstream to downstream. Choose a dam to see its releases above.

Lake Travis releases over time

Latest · Nov 13

1,595.8million gal

29 complete daily reports · Oct 15–Nov 13, 2026 · 1 day missing

  • Average per day 434.7 million gal

Drag across the chart to read a date

  1. Oct 15: 339.4 million gal
  2. Oct 16: 267.7 million gal
  3. Oct 17: 202.7 million gal
  4. Oct 18: 135.3 million gal
  5. Oct 19: 334.2 million gal
  6. Oct 20: 267.3 million gal
  7. Oct 21: 400.8 million gal
  8. Oct 22: 267.5 million gal
  9. Oct 23: 0.4 million gal
  10. Oct 24: 266.9 million gal
  11. Oct 25: 334.0 million gal
  12. Oct 26: 201.5 million gal
  13. Oct 27: 267.5 million gal
  14. Oct 28: 201.7 million gal
  15. Oct 29: 266.7 million gal
  16. Oct 30: 331.8 million gal
  17. Oct 31: 399.7 million gal
  18. Nov 2: 334.8 million gal
  19. Nov 3: 333.4 million gal
  20. Nov 4: 329.2 million gal
  21. Nov 5: 334.5 million gal
  22. Nov 6: 399.9 million gal
  23. Nov 7: 333.9 million gal
  24. Nov 8: 400.5 million gal
  25. Nov 9: 333.3 million gal
  26. Nov 10: 530.7 million gal
  27. Nov 11: 1,587.4 million gal
  28. Nov 12: 1,607.6 million gal
  29. Nov 13: 1,595.8 million gal
Avg per day
434.7million gal
Biggest day
1,607.6million gal · Nov 12
Total · 29 complete days
12.61billion gal
7-day trend
—Needs 14 complete days; Nov 1 is missing

Day-by-day releases

Only complete Central-time days are shown. Days with missing hourly readings are withheld.

Daily water released from Lake Travis through Mansfield Dam, newest first
DateMillion gal (bar shows share of the largest day)Avg cfs
1,595.8
2,469
1,607.6
2,487
1,587.4
2,456
530.7
821
333.3
516
400.5
620
333.9
517
399.9
619
334.5
518
329.2
509
333.4
516
334.8
518
399.7
618
331.8
513

Reading these numbers

Six dams step the Colorado River down through the Highland Lakes: Buchanan, Inks, Wirtz, Starcke, Mansfield and Tom Miller. Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis store water, so their levels rise and fall. The four lakes between and below them are held within a narrow range, so what comes in is passed on downstream.

Mansfield Dam holds back Lake Travis and sets how much water flows down the lower Colorado River. Releases climb after heavy rain to draw the lake back toward its 681-foot conservation pool, and shrink during drought to keep water in storage.

Each dam’s release is its total through turbines, gates and spillways. The current release is LCRA’s latest measured hour; daily figures total the hourly discharge readings for complete Central-time days. Hydropower dams often release for only part of the day, so an hour with no release is normal, even below a lake that passes the river straight through, like Lake LBJ or Lake Marble Falls.

Inks Dam has no floodgates: floodwater pours over its uncontrolled spillway. This is an independent site — for official operations, go to LCRA Hydromet.

  • cfs

    Cubic feet per second — the instantaneous discharge rate. 1 cfs held for a day ≈ 646,000 gallons.

  • Acre-foot

    Enough water to cover one acre a foot deep — about 326,000 gallons.

  • Conservation pool

    681 ft above sea level — Lake Travis “full” for water supply. Above it, extra water is flood storage and gets released.

Outflow questions

What the release numbers mean, where the water goes and how often they update.

  • Which dams does this page cover?

    All six Highland Lakes dams on the Colorado River, upstream to downstream: Buchanan Dam (Lake Buchanan), Inks Dam (Inks Lake), Wirtz Dam (Lake LBJ), Starcke Dam (Lake Marble Falls), Mansfield Dam (Lake Travis) and Tom Miller Dam (Lake Austin). Each has its latest hourly release, lake level, tailwater and LCRA’s floodgate report. Mansfield Dam also has up to 90 days of daily totals; the others show the last few complete days.

  • Why do Wirtz and Starcke dams open floodgates when Lake Travis is not full?

    Lake LBJ and Lake Marble Falls are pass-through lakes held within a narrow range, so they cannot store a flood. When the Llano River rises, LCRA passes that water through Wirtz and Starcke dams into Lake Travis, which has room to hold it. Inks Dam has no floodgates; high water there flows over its spillway.

  • What are Lake Travis outflows?

    Outflows are the water released through Mansfield Dam, which impounds Lake Travis. LCRA reports the discharge every hour in cubic feet per second (cfs); this page totals each day into gallons and acre-feet.

  • Where does water released from Mansfield Dam go?

    It flows into Lake Austin, through Tom Miller Dam into Lady Bird Lake, then over Longhorn Dam into the lower Colorado River and on toward Matagorda Bay. Along the way it serves city water supplies, downstream farms, industry, and the river and bay ecosystems.

  • Why do releases jump after heavy rain?

    Lake Travis is the Highland Lakes’ flood-control reservoir. LCRA may begin flood releases when the lake exceeds or is forecast to exceed its 681-foot conservation pool, depending on downstream conditions and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidance, so outflows can climb sharply for days or weeks after a big storm.

  • Why are releases low during a drought?

    When inflows dry up, LCRA releases only what downstream customers and required environmental flows need, keeping as much water as possible stored in the lake.

  • How often is this outflow data updated?

    Checked every 30 minutes. Published totals cover complete Central-time days of hourly LCRA discharge readings, including zero-flow hours. Days with missing hours are withheld; daylight-saving changes produce 23- or 25-hour days. It is an independent site, not an official LCRA product.