Lake Mead is the Grand Daddy of Colorado River reservoirs. The heroic construction of Hoover Dam is easily one of the greatest civil engineering achievements of the early 20th Century. As much as we loathe dams anywhere and especially on the Colorado River, we will always stand in awe of the sheer brawn and brilliant daring of those daredevils who somehow put Hoover Dam together. Seventy-five years ago, Hoover Dam was complete and beginning to fill for the first time.
Guess what? Two days ago--Sunday--the level of Lake Mead fell to a level last seen 75 years ago when the reservoir was filling. Amazing but true! The water level in Lake Mead is nearing a point at which mandatory water rationing will begin. With a strong La Nina taking shape in the Pacific Ocean, it's highly unlikely that this winter's snowpack will do anything to rescue Lake Mead and its water users from almost certain rationing in 2011. The only recourse water managers have to draining down Lake Powell help Lake Mead. That's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Nobody really wins in that scenario.
We've archived the article about this development in our Google Docs.
You can click here to read it. We're sure there will be a lot more coverage about "whazzup" with Lake Mead. Stay tuned to this saga, we ain't seen the weirdest yet!
Cheers, jp
PS--About the photos: The top photo is from July 1983 when Lake Mead reached its highest level of 1225 feet. Luckily back then, Wayne R., myself, Bonnie F. and a female friend of Wayne's traveled over from Flagstaff to watch the water flowing over the spillway. It was a sight none of us will ever forget! I can still see it in my mind's eye as if it was yesterday. The other photo shows Lake Mead near Hoover Dam with the water level down 103 feet. Bear in mind, the water level is now down 137 feet so it's a lot lower than shown in the photo. These are historic times!
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