Lake Facts

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the responsibility for managing 259 square miles of land and water at Truman Lake. Truman Reservoir is the largest flood control lake in Missouri, with a storage capacity of more than 5 million acre-feet. At normal pool elevation (706 mean sea level) the reservoir has a surface area of about 56,000 acres, additionally 110,000 acres of public land surrounds the reservoir.

At the top of the flood control pool (739.6) the reservoir grows to over 200,000 acres. The reservoir is located in portions of four Missouri counties: Benton, Henry, St. Clair, and Hickory.

The Kaysinger Bluff Dam and Reservoir was authorized in 1954 as one unit in a comprehensive flood control plan for the Missouri River basin. In 1970, the project was renamed by Congress as the Harry S. Truman Dam and Reservoir, in honor of the former president from Missouri. Project construction began in August 1964 and the spillway gates were closed in October 1979.

Project Data

Dam

Length of dam, feet: 5,964
Concrete section, ft.: 964
Earth embankment, ft.: 5,000
Maximum height of dam
Above streambed, ft.: 126
Concrete in dam, cubic yds.: 327,000
Earth in embankment, cubic yds.: 8,500,000
Length of Spillway, gross ft.: 190
Spillway crest gates (4), size in ft.: 40 x 47.3

Power Development

Generating units, number: 6
Rated capacity, each unit, kilowatts: 26,667
Station installed capacity, kilowatts: 160,000

Lake

Elevations, feet above mean sea level
   Top of multipurpose pool: 706.0
   Top of flood control pool: 739.6
Surface area of lake, acres
   At top of multipurpose pool: 55,600
   At top of flood control pool: 209,300
Storage Capacity, acre feet
   Multipurpose pool: 1,202,700
   Flood control pool:- 3,999,300
Shoreline length, miles
At (706) multipurpose pool: 958