About 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico rely on Lake Mead water, which has been running out at an alarming rate amid a
climate change-fueled megadrought.
As of Monday the lake’s water level was around
1,054 feet above sea level – about 160 feet below its 2000 level, when it was last considered full. It’s the lowest level on record for the reservoir since it was filled in the 1930s.
In August, the federal government declared an
unprecedented water shortage on the Colorado River, which feeds the reservoir. That triggered water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest beginning in January
Upstream on the Colorado River, water levels at Lake Powell – the country’s second-largest reservoir – have also been plummeting and recently
dipped below a threshold that threatens not only downstream water supply but also hydropower generation for the surrounding communities.Across the West, extreme drought has already taken a major toll this year, with
around 91% of the region in some level of drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. 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.
