LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — When the heat of summer is baking the Mojave Desert in July 2027, Lake Mead will drop lower than it has been since the nation’s largest reservoir was filled in the 1930s, a new report shows.
That’s the most probable scenario in projections released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. And it could be a lot worse if water flow in the Colorado River is in the low range of Reclamation’s projections, which are adjusted monthly.
Three years ago, Lake Mead dropped to 1,041.71 feet (July 2022), exposing lake bottom no one had seen for years. Pipes that had worked for decades to supply the Las Vegas valley with water were above the water line. Sunken boats and human remains — including a body in a barrel — emerged on the shoreline. It was an unprecedented time, but it’s expected to repeat in the summer of 2027…