Overview
- Federal Bureau of Reclamation readings show Lake Mead has reached a new low near 1,040 feet above sea level, below the previous record and continuing a steady decline this summer.
- The fall reflects more than two decades of drought compounded by this year’s unusually warm, low-snow winter that sharply reduced runoff into the Colorado River system.
- Reservoir elevation is approaching the roughly 1,035-foot operational threshold that would require some Hoover Dam turbines to shut and could cut generation by about 70 percent, federal forecasts warn.
- The Department of the Interior has proposed a framework that could reduce Lower Basin deliveries by up to about 3 million acre-feet through 2036, prompting states and local agencies to prepare for mandatory cuts in 2027–2028 and to push back politically.
- Millions of people and large farms depend on the Colorado River, Lake Powell is also near record lows, and water managers are accelerating paid conservation, emergency transfers and local measures such as desalination to protect supplies.