Water elevation · USGS gauge 14034490 · updated August 29, 2026
Willow Creek Reservoir Water LevelNRNot rated for water quality
The USGS gauge at Willow Creek Lake at Heppner, OR last recorded a water elevation of 2052.51 ft at Willow Creek Reservoir on August 29, 2026. In Morrow County, Oregon, Willow Creek Reservoir has no letter grade — no nutrient or algae measurement meets the evidence bar (at least 3 samples within 10 years). Water clarity averages 9.8 feet of visibility, and there is one public boat landing on the lake. The water-quality samples behind that grade were submitted to the EPA Water Quality Portal by North American Lake Management Society; the level above comes from the USGS, which runs the gauge.
Water elevation
2052.51ft
feet above sea level
Gauge 14034490, Willow Creek Lake at Heppner, OR, operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. The value above is the most recent reading on file with its own timestamp. When the gauge answers, it is replaced by the current one — no estimate is ever shown in place of a missing reading.
What this number is
Water elevation is the height of the lake surface above sea level, as surveyed at Willow Creek Lake at Heppner, OR. It is the number reservoir operators publish, and it is comparable from one reading to the next at this lake. It is not the depth of the water.
- Measured as
- Water elevation, ft above sea level
- Most recent reading on file
- 2052.51 ft · August 29, 2026
- Water quality
- NRNot rated
No target level is shown here. Saying a lake is high or low needs a conservation pool or a seasonal rule curve to measure against, and the gauge reading alone does not carry one. The station page above holds the full record, including the last several days, which is what a single reading has to be read against.
Water quality at Willow Creek Reservoir
Willow Creek Reservoir has no letter grade. No nutrient or algae measurement meets the evidence bar (at least 3 samples within 10 years). A lake without enough recent summer sampling is published as Not Rated rather than given a letter the data cannot support. Not Rated is never an F.
The gauge measures how much water is in the lake. The grade measures what is in the water. A rise or a drawdown does not change the letter until the lake is sampled again.
Common questions
What is the water level at Willow Creek Reservoir right now?
The most recent reading from the USGS gauge at Willow Creek Lake at Heppner, OR is a water elevation of 2052.51 ft, taken on August 29, 2026. This page reloads that gauge every time it is opened, so the number above is the current one whenever the station is reporting. USGS lake gauges typically post a new value every 15 to 60 minutes.
What does water elevation mean?
Water elevation is the height of the lake surface above sea level, as surveyed at Willow Creek Lake at Heppner, OR. It is the number reservoir operators publish, and it is comparable from one reading to the next at this lake. It is not the depth of the water.
Is Willow Creek Reservoir low?
That question needs a target pool level to answer, and the gauge reading alone does not supply one. Reservoir operators publish a conservation pool or a seasonal rule curve for the lakes they manage, and the USGS station page for gauge 14034490 carries the full record this reading came from, including the past several days. Comparing today against that record is the honest version of "low" — a single number is not.
Does the water level affect water quality at Willow Creek Reservoir?
Willow Creek Reservoir has no letter grade — no nutrient or algae measurement meets the evidence bar (at least 3 samples within 10 years). Lakes are graded A to F on nutrients and algae — total phosphorus, total nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, and turbidity — measured against the EPA National Lakes Assessment 2022 condition classes for that lake's own ecoregion, so a lake is judged against the lakes it would naturally resemble. None of that comes from the gauge. A drawdown can concentrate nutrients and a heavy inflow can dilute them, but neither shows up in the grade until the water is sampled again. Treat the two numbers as separate measurements of the same lake.
Where these numbers come from
The level and temperature are U.S. Geological Survey instantaneous values from gauge 14034490, a public feed with no licence restriction. The water-quality grade is built from EPA Water Quality Portal samples submitted by North American Lake Management Society. For advisories and standards in Oregon, Oregon DEQ is the authority — a gauge reading is neither.