For the better part of a century, Lake Mead has been one of the United States’ most beloved natural wonders, a vast Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam that became the nation’s first national recreation area, attracting millions of boaters, swimmers and picnickers. . . Now, with its shores bare from a long drought, the giddy delights of Lake Mead give way to horrifying discoveries as a desert playground becomes a showcase for disturbing new realities. “I have to say, I always wonder when I walk through here – what am I going to step on? Because just yesterday they found someone,” said Matt Loborec, who came to Boulder Beach on a recent afternoon to watch his 14-year-old son windsurf. He pointed to a beach a few hundred meters away where human remains had just been discovered, the third such find this year. One of the bodies was found in a barrel, an apparent murder victim revealed after the waters receded. “It’s confusing,” Mr. Loborec said. Big cities depends water from Lake Mead the globe and mail, source: graphic news Big cities depends water from Lake Mead the globe and mail, source: graphic news Big cities depends water from Lake Mead the globe and mail, source: graphic news Lake Mead, as seen from space on July 6, 2000 and July 3, 2022. Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory via The New York Times What is happening in Lake Mead is symptomatic of serious economic and environmental problems. A warmer and drier climate has deepened a crisis that began with decades of overdrafting the Colorado, using its waters to turn deserts green for agriculture and support the many millions of people who have migrated to the Western U.S. A drop in water levels for two decades The river’s key reservoirs have troubling implications for the tens of millions of people who live in the Colorado Basin and the many millions more who depend on the food it grows. But the disappearing waters of Lake Mead are also an emblem of withering joy as climate concerns turn summer into a season of worry about wildfires, smoke, heat deaths — and drought. A short drive from Las Vegas, Lake Mead was in its heyday a national recreation icon. Large enough to hold two years of the Colorado River’s flow, the reservoir’s turquoise waters reached 180 kilometers into the red rock and desert of Nevada and Arizona. It was born in a moment of triumphant American optimism. At the dedication of the then famous Hoover Dam in 1935 As Boulder Dam, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt celebrated a “miracle of the twentieth century” that had transformed “a cactus-covered waste.” “The mighty waters of the Colorado were flowing unused to the sea,” he said. “Today we translate them into a great national possession.” Tourists take a photo atop the Hoover Dam near Boulder City, Nev., as firefighters extinguish a fire in electrical transformer equipment on the Arizona side of the structure. David Becker/Reuters Rocky Mountain meltwater held by Lake Mead pulsed through hydroelectric turbines, faucets and irrigation wheels, fueling decades of U.S. expansion into the arid Southwest and California, some of the nation’s fastest-growing regions. And it has long been one of the most popular attractions in the US, attracting far more visitors than the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or Yosemite. In 1995, 10.2 million people came to Lake Mead, which once had 10 boat ramps that launched 1,200 boats a day. “In the 20th century, Americans have come to expect easy access to recreation, almost as a right. It was a more affluent society, with more time off,” said Jonathan Foster, a historian at Great Basin College who wrote Lake Mead National Recreation Area: A History of America’s First National Playground. This lake in the desert was “symbolic thinking: we can have everything,” the epitome of a philosophy of dominion over nature. Today, he said, “I think we’re seeing some of the silliness in that idea.” Although 7.5 million people still visited Lake Mead last year, only one boat ramp remains in operation, averaging 50 launches per day. The lake is visually dominated by a “bathtub ring” that marks the spot where the water once stood. It is now 54 meters above the water level. When helicopter pilot Brian Lorenz flew over the lake in early July, he staggered. He posted a YouTube video of what he called his “disastrous” situation — “and then my wife and I listed our house for sale,” he said. “We’re getting out of here.” Boats at Lake Mead Marina on June 24. The low water level has prevented boat traffic on the lake. Mario Tama/Getty Images A sign shows where the water line was last year, before the current drought. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images This wrecked World War II-era landing craft was about 200 feet underwater. Ethan Miller/Getty Images And on the ground, the change is undeniable. A fishing pier that was in the water last year is now hundreds of yards from the lake. The newly exposed shoreline is a jumble of rocks and debris: old cables, a swim ladder, plastic bottles. A coyote scavenges the spilled food. The beach has the rough feel of a demolition site. Its unsightly new reality has made it a destination for those chasing YouTube clicks. One attracted millions of views on a video in which a team pulled a battered houseboat back into the water. Another explored newly exposed boat on the shore. It all makes for grim – but fascinating – viewing. Visitors to the lake are greeted with a handwritten note of the lake’s depth, measured in feet above sea level. On July 18, it was 1,041.3 feet. Nine days later, it had fallen to 1,040.69. In a constant battle against rapid change are the operators of the local marina. A one-foot drop in water level equates to “about 100 feet of dock on the beach,” said Bob Grippendog, whose family owns a group of companies along the lake. He sees it as a warning of a drying world. If people “don’t start trying to realize what’s going on, it’s not going to get better. It will get worse.” Las Vegas historian Michael Green recalled the 1970s as an “age of limitations,” with life constrained by the oil embargo, stagflation and fears of hostage-taking. “We may be in a new era of limits,” he said, “where the limits are decided by the climate.” Lake Mead’s waters are falling so fast that even fish are being affected, especially the smaller species that spawn in shallows and quickly dry up. “We’re losing the whole bait source,” said Captain Jack Lemons, a local fishing guide. “The big fish, I don’t think there’s enough food for them to survive.” People carry a boat over land that was once covered with water. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images The speed of change has created, for some, suspicions. Daniel Clark, a local captain and tour guide, recounts a conversation with a neighbor who retired from military intelligence and told him last year that the U.S. government plans to lower the level of the tanks near major cities, where they are more visible. Seeing Lake Mead fall next, he sees bad political influence. “They’re pushing the global warming narrative,” he said. At the same time, he watched the newly dried shores become their own kind of attraction, with people bringing metal detectors to search for once sunken treasure. In Las Vegas, the Mafia Museum requested the barrel containing the body discovered in early May, sparking international speculation that it was a Mafia murder. “One of the long-standing draws of Las Vegas is this connection to the mob,” said Geoff Schumacher, a museum executive. Casino tourists were once excited by the idea that “maybe the guy who just sat on the stool next to me is a mobster,” he said. Behind this heavy nostalgia, however, Mr Schumacher can’t stifle concern. If the water continues to fall, “there aren’t enough U-Hauls out there if we all have to leave,” he said. Cassaundra Steele grew up in Las Vegas – and Lake Mead. She remembers that as a girl she thought its cocoa-colored rocks looked like chocolate ice cream. In a place where temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius, “this is where we found our oasis,” he said. Today, the whitewashed tub ring causes less joy. The family boat recently required a $5,000 repair after hitting an underwater barrier that had come close to the surface. Ms. Steele’s father has Alzheimer’s disease. “I’m glad he’s not knowledgeable enough to know what’s been done,” he said. “It’s sad. It really is.”
Video: Snapshots of Lake Mead in its prime
Lake Mead has drawn millions of visitors for decades, but drought and increased demand have pushed its water levels to record lows. Take a look at the lake from its beginnings in the 1930s to today. The Globe and Mail
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