The largest reservoir in the United States, which was feared to be on the verge of drying up, has now reached its highest level since 2021.
The federal government announced Wednesday that Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, has risen seven feet since the beginning of 2024, bringing it to 1,075 feet.
There was concern that Mead would suffer the same fate as the Aral Sea, which used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, but thanks to poor water management, the lake shrank rapidly in just a handful of decades.
Mead, which supplies water to 25 million people in the two states plus California, has not been full since 1983 because of extreme heat and declining snowmelt that has drained the Colorado River that feeds the reservoir.
If the body of water dries up, the population that depends on it would be left without water, the largest national recreation area in the United States would disappear, and millions of people would be without power.
The largest reservoir in the United States, which was feared to be on the verge of drying up, has now reached its highest level since 2021. Pictured is an aerial shot from this month.
The federal government announced Wednesday that Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, has risen seven feet since the beginning of 2024, bringing it to 1,075 feet.
The current increase is attributed to above-average rainfall last year, but experts believe the rainfall was a short-term solution that is unlikely to remain stable throughout the year.
In the summer of 2022, the water level in the reservoir fell to 1,041 feet above sea level, the lowest level since its construction in the 1930s.
The reservoir is at its highest level since May 4, 2021, which saw a steady rise in late November 2023.
However, officials have warned that if Mead falls below 950 feet it will be considered a “dead pool,” but at 895 feet elevation the reservoir will be considered a “dead pool.”
The Department of the Interior (DOI) conducted a high-flow release experiment last April, in which water was released from Glen Canyon Dam at a rate of 39,500 cubic feet per second for 72 hours.
If the body of water dries up, the population that depends on it would be left without water, the largest national recreation area in the United States would disappear, and millions of people would be without power.
The idea was to open the flow of water into Lake Mead.
In May, the reservoir was at 1,051.30 feet above sea level and reached another 15 feet in early September, remaining stable for the rest of the year.
While the current state of Lake Mead is encouraging, what lies ahead cannot be determined: Officials will need to see how much snow falls in the Rocky Mountains this year.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently shared projections suggesting water levels are likely to drop another 29 feet over the next two years and could fall even further.
“The one wet year we had is only going part of the way,” Bart Miller of Western Resource Advocates said in a statement last month.
“We still have a lot of work to do to balance our water demands with what the river provides.”
While the rise has exceeded projections for this month (data showed it would reach 1,073 by Feb. 29), water levels are expected to drop another 19 feet by the end of November.
The reservoir is at its highest level since May 4, 2021, which saw a steady rise in late November 2023. Pictured is Lake Mead in January 2023.
A wet winter has helped raise the level another 29 feet from its record low, but that recovery looks set to fade by the end of 2025.
And the “probable minimum” predicted by the bureau could reduce the figure another five feet.
Lake Mead is fed by the iconic Colorado River, which has seen its flow decline by a fifth since 2000, which scientists say is due to rising temperatures and climate change.
Average temperatures in the upper part of the basin, where most of the river’s flow originates, have risen about 3 degrees since 1970, and researchers attribute the increase to global warming.
And some studies have suggested the flow could fall by 40 percent by mid-century.
Talks are underway between the seven states that share the river’s output on how to reduce water consumption by the time the existing agreement expires in 2026.
Meanwhile, the federal government has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to promote conservation initiatives that have already left the water level 40 feet higher than expected by the end of 2022.
Districts representing California farmers and other large users agreed to significant cuts in usage last month in exchange for a $295 million federal grant.
“Less than a year ago, the Colorado River was in a very different place than we are today,” said JB Hamby, Colorado River Commissioner for California.
