Is the monsoon helping Lake Mead?

After falling more than 27 feet since the start of the year, Lake Mead got a bit of a bump thanks in part to the August monsoon season. But in the face of a megadrought that has gripped the Southwest for more than two decades, the small uptick is a drop in the nation's largest bucket of water.



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The water levels for Lake Mead are projected to reach slightly over 1,065 feet by January 2024, according to the Bureau of Reclamation, in large part due to an extremely wet winter that eased the effects of the longstanding drought. In October 2022, the water levels were at a historic low, at roughly 1,046 feet.

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It would actually take six more years of heavy rainfall in a row to refill the Lake Mead reservoir completely. Time is ticking to solve the problem before future droughts dry up the lake completely. Without irrigation, farmland like this in California and other western states would revert to the desert.

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Since 1983, years of drought along with high water demand have caused the lake to drop by 132 feet. Today, the lake is at only 30% capacity, its lowest level since it was built in the 1930s. Fortunately, heavy rainfall early in 2023 has relieved the situation a little, but only temporarily.

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Although Lake Mead has started to recover, it still has a long way to go before it is stable and healthy. After reaching record lows in 2022, Lake Mead has seen some signs of recovery in 2023 thanks to a precipitation-heavy winter that increased the snowpack throughout the Colorado River Basin.

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With intervening flows between Lake Powell and Lake Mead of 1.32 maf in CY 2023, Lake Mead's physical elevation is projected to be 1,065.42 feet on December 31, 2023. The WY 2023 unregulated inflow into Lake Powell in the August Probable Maximum inflow scenario is 13.75 maf, or 143% of average.

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Most of our rainwater travels untreated through gutters, storm drains, channels, washes and eventually into the major source of our drinking water - Lake Mead. All storm drains lead to lake mead. Stormwater that falls in the Las Vegas Valley picks up pollutants and travels untreated to Lake Mead.

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“While the amount of precipitation received from the recent storms in the lower basin and from tributary inflows helps, the greatest source of water for Lake Mead is still from snow melt and flows from the upper basin — especially from good winter snowpack from the west slope of the Rocky Mountains,” Hendrix said.

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Lake Mead expected to have gained 20 feet of water by end of 2023. By the end of the year, the water level at Lake Mead is expected to be at least 20 feet higher than it was in January, according to a Bureau of Reclamation forecast released this week.

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The Lake Mead problem could be resolved by draining Lake Powell and storing the water in Lake Mead. More than 5% of the water in the Colorado River evaporates off the surface of Lake Powell - which never should have been built.

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Electricity would not just be the only thing lost. Without Lake Mead, Las Vegas would lose access to 90 percent of its water sources. If Lake Mead were to reach dead pool, it would technically still be able to supply drinking water to Las Vegas. But there will not be enough water for agricultural activities.

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There are many places to swim in the bright blue waters of Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. Be aware that there are no lifeguards in the park. Always wear a life jacket. Most fatalities at Lake Mead National Recreation Area could have been avoided if the person in the water was wearing a life jacket.

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Tourism on the Colorado River is a $9 billion-a-year industry, but that will drop off a cliff with fewer options for rafting, fishing, and boating. Many of the canals and branches from the Colorado River that channel drinking water would also run dry. Arizona gets more than one-third of its water from the river.

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Hydrology. Lake Mead is fed by the Colorado River and three smaller tributaries: the Virgin and Muddy Rivers and Las Vegas Wash. Gregg Basin and Temple Basin are fed by the mainstream of the Colorado River, which now enters Lake Mead at the northern end of the Gregg Basin, nearly 60 miles upstream of Hoover Dam.

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Rising temperatures due to climate change have sapped more than 10 trillion gallons of water from the Colorado River over the last two decades, enough water to completely fill Lake Mead from top to bottom, according to a recent study from researchers at UCLA.

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If the Hoover Dam shuts down, it will have a ripple effect in the states of Nevada, Arizona, and California. There will be less water to go around, power will have to come from less clean sources, and all industries will be impacted some way or another.

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The vast reservoir's water level has dropped more than 170ft (52m) since 1983, the same year the Colorado River flooded the dam's spillways. Over-extraction, extreme heat and decreased snowmelt have burdened the Colorado River Basin and nearly 40 years later, Lake Mead is down to about 27% of its capacity.

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