The level of the lake is controlled by Contact Energy, which must keep the level between 346m and 338m above sea level.
Water from the lake is used to generate electricity at Contact's Clyde and Roxburgh hydro-electric power stations.
Yesterday the level was 338.849m above sea level, slightly up from the 338.75m level last week.
In June the Otago Daily Times reported locals were concerned the level of the lake was low heading into winter.
Lake Hawea resident Marge Goodger, who has swum in the lake almost every summer day for the past 18 years, placed the blame solely on Contact Energy, which she said was getting rich while leaving the community with a diminished lake.
``They [Contact] are getting richer and the lake is getting thinner and thinner,'' she said.
Each year it had become harder for her to reach the lake to swim and paths provided by Contact were not enough.
``I moved here to live next to a lake, not a dried-up pond,'' she said.
In an email, head of hydropower at Contact Energy Boyd Brinsdon said the company ensured it operated within its resource consents.
A combination of snow melt and seasonal rainfall would see storage levels rise in the coming months, he said.
If there was less rain and snow melt than usual, the company would not generate as much electricity from the hydro dams and would use natural gas or buy generation from elsewhere, Mr Brinsdon said.
Guardians of Lake Hawea chairwomen Barbara Chinn said it seemed more people were alarmed by the level of the lake this year than in previous years.
Weather was unpredictable from year to year but it was worrying the usual September rain had not eventuated, she said.
