BOULDER CITY, Nev. (AP) 鈥� Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system.
Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4 feet (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to . That鈥檚 just below the record set on July 28, 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
鈥淚t’s extremely significant and extremely concerning. You have three-quarters of the population of the Colorado River Basin, some 30 million people, who are directly impacted by risks to Lake Mead,鈥� said J.B. Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California and a board member of the Imperial Irrigation District, the largest user of the river鈥檚 water.
Hamby said it is vital for states that use Colorado River water to reduce water use.
Drought and dry conditions have stretched along the length of the Colorado and are particularly intense at its source in the Rocky Mountains.
Melting snow provides important water for the river. This past winter, however, on record for the Colorado River Basin, adding more stress on farmers, industry, wildlife and hydropower producers, as well as the 40 million people across seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico who rely on the waterway.
Years of overuse combined with drought and rising temperatures have been depleting Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country鈥檚 second-largest reservoir. Both are the in nearly seven decades.
To protect the strained system’s ability to produce hydropower, federal officials said Thursday that they from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona to protect a threatened native fish, the humpback chub, whose habitat is between the reservoirs.
Federal officials recently to stave off a crisis in the beleaguered waterway, after states that rely on it 鈥� California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah 鈥� failed to reach an agreement on how to share the dwindling resource in the long term.
The federal proposal called for the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada to take less water. The Bureau of Reclamation, which released the plan, said it was flexible: Deeper cuts could happen in drier times, while states would have more time to collectively agree on how to manage the scarce resources.
on Lake Mead, which is held back by Hoover Dam, exposed and forced water officials in Las Vegas to pump water from deeper within the reservoir to continue to supply water to millions of people.
Levels at Lake Powell have dropped so much that it has become far enough to reach the water. Boat ramps have had to move, shut down or be built anew.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell are not alone. Of the 54 Western reservoirs , nine recently recorded their lowest levels in the last three decades.
Federal officials do not believe the record will stay where it is. According to modeling done in July, Lake Mead is forecast to continue dropping through much of the rest of the year.
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Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in Washington contributed.
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