Lake Mead plummets to record low, exposing original 1971 water intake valve – Dead man found in barrel at lake bottom, authorities say more bodies likely to turn up – “This is a crisis. This is unprecedented.”
By Stephanie Elam
29 April 2022
(CNN) – The U.S. West is in the grips of a climate change-fueled megadrought, and Lake Mead — the largest manmade reservoir in the country and a source of water for millions of people — has fallen to an unprecedented low.
The lake’s plummeting water level has exposed one of the reservoir’s original water intake valves for the first time, officials say.
The valve had been in service since 1971 but can no longer draw water, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is responsible for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas.
Across the West, extreme drought is already taking a toll this year and summertime heat hasn’t even arrived yet. Drought conditions worsened in the Southwest over the past week, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday. Extreme and exceptional drought, the two worst designations, expanded across New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado — all states that are part of the Colorado River basin.
New Mexico’s drought has been steadily intensifying since the beginning of the year, and extreme or exceptional drought now covers 68% of the state.
Further West, water officials in Southern California are now demanding that residents and businesses limit outdoor watering to one day a week, after a disappointing winter with very little rain and snow. It’s the first time they’ve implemented such a strict rule.
“This is a crisis. This is unprecedented,” said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “We have never done anything like this before and because we haven’t seen this situation happen like this before. We don’t have enough water to meet normal demands for the six million people living in the State Water Project dependent areas.”
At Lake Mead, photos taken Monday show the eldest of the agency’s three intake valves high and dry above the water line.
“When the lake hit 1060 (feet above sea level), that’s when you could start to see the top of the intake number one,” said Bronson Mack, public outreach officer for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Lake Mead hit 1,060 feet above sea level on April 4 and stands at 1055 feet as of Wednesday, he said. […]
The federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time last summer. The shortage triggered mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, which began in January.
And in March, Lake Powell dropped below a critical threshold that threatens the Glen Canyon Dam’s ability to generate power.
The West is in its worst drought in centuries, scientists reported Monday. A study published in February found the period from 2000 to 2021 was the driest in for the region 1,200 years.
The human-caused climate crisis has made the West’s megadrought 72% worse, the study noted.
“We’re kind of in some uncharted territory, socially and economically,” Justin Mankin, assistant professor of geography at Dartmouth College and co-lead of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Drought Task Force, told CNN in March. [more]
Lake Mead plummets to unprecedented low, exposing original 1971 water intake valve
Las Vegas authorities: Man found in barrel in Lake Mead amid drought was shot; more bodies likely to turn up
By Christal Hayes
2 May 2022
USA TODAY – Authorities in Las Vegas say the human remains discovered in a barrel in Lake Mead was that of a man who’d been shot and police say more bodies could turn up amid a drought that has dropped the lake’s water level to historic lows.
The barrel was discovered Sunday afternoon by boaters who alerted the National Park Service. The agency said in a statement that rangers searched an area near Hemenway Harbor and found the barrel with skeletal remains. They are working with Las Vegas police.
The Clark County coroner’s office will determine the person’s identity.
The man was found shot and had likely been killed sometime between the mid-1970s and early 1980s based on the type of shoes the victim was found wearing, said homicide Lt. Ray Spencer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Spencer said that was the only time period those particular shoes were manufactured.
Spencer told 8 News Now, a local CBS affiliate, more bodies are expected to be discovered as the lake, which is east of Las Vegas and borders Nevada and Arizona, recedes.
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Spencer told the outlet. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”
Spencer said investigators are examining growth on the barrel in hopes of tracing when it was placed in the lake and started to erode.
Shawna Hollister told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas that she and her husband were docking their boat when they heard a woman scream. They then saw the body, which had a shirt and belt visible. The barrel appeared partially lodged in the mud. [more]
