Water officials in Arizona say they are prepared to lose about one-fifth of the water the state gets from the Colorado River in what could be the first federally declared shortage in the river that supplies millions of people in the U. Ross D. What is Lake Mead? Why is it important? How low is the water level in Lake Mead? The water level in Lake Mead is 1, Previously, the lowest water level was 1, Lake Mead has not been full since with water levels falling vertical feet since then — including falling 20 feet in the last 12 months, reported USA Today.
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Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email address required. Now, the lake has ducked just below that level at 1, Researchers expect the water will continue receding for at least the next two years. The federal government is planning to declare an official water shortage at Lake Mead in August, which will result in large water cuts for Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
Lake Mead generates electricity and supplies water to about 25 million people across tribal lands, farms and major cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Las Vegas obtains about 90 percent of its drinking water from Lake Mead, according to the Post. At least 4. This drought is part of the larger, climate change-induced megadrought affecting water resources and fueling wildfires.
One of the West's driest year periods in centuries is colliding with the river's chronic overuse. As the reservoir falls toward record lows, its decline threatens the water supplies of cities and farmlands and reveals how the system of managing water in the desert Southwest faces growing risks. Tech: Twitter will promote credible information with new climate change topic after criticism over misinformation. Mike Bernardo of the federal Bureau of Reclamation leads a team of engineers and hydrologists who plan water releases from Hoover Dam, as well as Davis and Parker dams downstream, sending flows that travel through pipelines and canals to Phoenix, Los Angeles and farmlands in the USA and Mexico that produce crops such as hay, cotton, grapes and lettuce.
That will mean less water flowing into Lake Mead for the rest of the year. The past 12 months have been among the driest on record across the Colorado River Basin. The demands for water downstream from Hoover Dam continue. The reservoir has declined more than 16 feet over the past year and is forecast to fall about 9 feet more by the end of this year. The latest projections show that by the end of , Lake Mead will decline below an elevation of 1, feet, far below the threshold — 1, feet — for the federal government to declare a shortage.
The Colorado River naturally cycles through wet and dry periods, but over the past 22 years , the watershed has had 17 dry years, Bernardo says, and only five years with above-average or wet conditions. Hotter temperatures have evaporated more moisture off the landscape, leaving less flowing in the river and its tributaries. Some scientists have estimated the river could lose roughly one-fourth of its flow by as temperatures rise, and that for each additional 1 degree Centigrade 1.
The declines in the reservoirs have accelerated over the past two years. In , representatives of Arizona, Nevada and California agreed under a deal called the Drought Contingency Plan to share in water reductions through to reduce the risks of Lake Mead falling to critically low levels.
The agreement calls for progressively larger cutbacks if Lake Mead drops below lower trigger points in the coming years. If the reservoir drops below 1, feet, California would start to take cuts. Mexico contributes by leaving some water in Lake Mead. Though the latest agreement is intended as a stopgap measure, officials from the seven states that depend on the river are preparing to negotiate rules for managing shortages after , and those talks promise to be tougher.
Bernardo, 35, has worked for the Bureau of Reclamation for nearly a decade, including the past two years as river operations manager. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, Hoover Dam contains enough concrete to build a sidewalk 4 feet wide around the entire Earth at the equator.
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