Three photos shared on social media show a concerning trend at Lake Mead over the past 40 years.
After years of drought, Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, reached drastically low levels last summer, but water levels have since started to recover because of above-average precipitation and snowpack that melted throughout the summer. However, a trio of photos shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday afternoon show that Lake Mead still has a long way to go in its recovery.
"BEFORE & AFTER | Hoover Dam 1983-2023 : Updated photos illustrate high water level for each year (2023 ongoing) As of today, Lake Mead is riding its yearly high at 1,066.29 ft above sea level - around 34% capacity and 162 ft below full pool," the X account Mojo Adventures posted alongside the photos.
The first photo shows Lake Mead at 1,225 feet in 1983, only a few feet below the reservoir's full pool of 1,229 feet. The second photo is of the same location 20 years later and shows Lake Mead at 1,154 feet in 2003. The third photo reveals that the reservoir dropped another 88 feet to 1,066 feet over the next 20 years.
Despite the startling trend, Lake Mead is in a much-improved condition compared to 2022. The lake has gained nearly 23 feet since this time last year, when levels were at 1,043 feet. At that time, experts were concerned that the reservoir would reach a dead pool sooner than expected. A dead pool is when water levels are so low that they can no longer flow downstream. If the lake reaches a dead pool, millions of people will feel the agricultural impacts. The hydropower supplied by the Hoover Dam also will be impacted negatively by a dead pool, which occurs at 895 feet.
Lake Mead's improvement over the last year sparked a hopeful outlook. However, experts have told Newsweek that a full recovery is unlikely given the drought trends and the amount of water used from the Colorado River, which supplies the reservoir.
Jennifer Pitt, the director of the National Audubon Society's Colorado River Program, previously told Newsweek that full recovery is only possible if three years of average snowfall occur with no water use from the reservoir.
Last year, there was an above-average snowfall in the region, meaning snow melting from nearby mountain ranges supplemented the lake throughout the spring and aided in its recovery. However, more improvement is needed.
Water reduction efforts are underway, and states in the lower Colorado River basins, such as Nevada and Arizona, are experiencing mandatory water cuts. Earlier this year, Nevada, Arizona and California agreed to cut an additional 3 million acre-feet of water in exchange for a payment from the federal government.
Despite the efforts, University of California, Davis professor Jay Lund previously told Newsweek that humans must further reduce their water use, even if it means fallowing agricultural fields.
"We might get lucky with the weather, but the idea of the system recovering is really hard unless you reduce water use in that basin," Lund said.
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