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Lake Mead

Coordinates: 36°15′N 114°23′W / 36.25°N 114.39°W / 36.25; -114.39
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Lake Mead
LocationMohave County, Arizona /Clark County, Nevada
Coordinates36°15′N 114°23′W / 36.25°N 114.39°W / 36.25; -114.39
Typereservoir
Primary inflowsColorado River
Primary outflowsColorado River
Basin countriesUnited States
Max. length112 mi (180 km)
Surface area247 sq mi (640 km2)
Max. depth500 ft (150 m)
Water volume35.2 km3 (28,500,000 acre⋅ft)[1]
Shore length1550 mi (890 km)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is located on the Colorado River about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the states of Nevada and Arizona. Formed by water impounded by the Hoover Dam, it extends 112 miles (180 km) behind the dam, holding approximately 28,500,000 acre-feet (35.2 km3) of water.[1]

History

Elwood Mead

The lake was named after Elwood Mead, who was the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 to 1936 during the planning and construction of the Boulder Canyon Project that created the dam and lake. Lake Mead was established as the Boulder Dam Recreation Area in 1936, administrated by the National Park Service. It was then changed to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1964, this time including Lake Mohave and the Shivwits Plateau under its jurisdiction. Both lakes and the surrounding area offer year-round recreation options. The accumulated water from Hoover Dam forced the evacuation of several communities, most notably St. Thomas, Nevada, whose last resident left the town in 1938.[2] The ruins of St. Thomas are sometimes visible when the water level in Lake Mead drops below normal.[2]

At lower water levels, a high-water mark or "bathtub ring" is visible in photos that show the shoreline of Lake Mead. The bathtub ring is white because of the deposition of minerals on previously submerged surfaces.[3]

Geography

Lake Mead, May 2, 2006
Lake Mead from space, November 1985. North is facing downward to the right. The Colorado River can be seen leading southward away from the lake on the top left. The Hoover Dam is located where the river meets the lake.

There are nine main access points to the lake. On the west are three roads from the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Access from the northwest from Interstate 15 is through Valley of Fire State Park and the Moapa River Indian Reservation to the Overton arm of the lake.

The lake is divided into several bodies. The large body closest to the Hoover Dam is Boulder Basin. The narrow channel, which was once known as Boulder Canyon and is now known as The Narrows, connects Boulder Basin to Virgin Basin to the east. The Virgin River and Muddy River empty into the Overton Arm, which is connected to the northern part of the Virgin Basin. The next basin to the east is Temple Basin, and following that is Gregg Basin, which is connected to the Temple Basin by the Virgin Canyon. When the lake levels are high enough, a section of the lake farther upstream from the Gregg Basin is flooded, which includes Grand Wash Bay and the Pearce Ferry Bay and launch ramp. In addition, there are two tiny basins, the Muddy River Inlet and the Virgin River Basin, that are flooded when the lake is high enough where these two rivers flow into the lake. As of now, however, these basins remain dry.

Jagged mountain ranges surround the lake, offering somewhat of a startling but beautiful backdrop, especially at sunset. There are two mountain ranges within view of the Boulder Basin, the River Mountains, oriented north-west to south-east and the Muddy Mountains, oriented west to north-east. From the Virgin Basin, you can view the majestic Bonelli Peak towards the east.

Las Vegas Bay is the terminus for the Las Vegas Wash which is the sole outflow from the Las Vegas Valley.

Drought and water usage issues

Lake Mead as seen from the Hoover Dam clearly showing the "bathtub ring"

Lake Mead's water level has three times fallen below the drought level (1125 feet above sea level).[4] From 1953 to 1956, the water level fell from 1,200 to 1,085 feet (366 to 331 m). From 1963 to 1965, the water level fell from 1,205 to 1,090 feet (367 to 332 m). Since 2000 through 2008, the water level has dropped from 1215 to 1095. In 2009 the water level rose slightly, but only due to cool winter temperature and rainfall.

In June of 2010, the lake was at 39 percent of its capacity,[5] and on October 17, 2010, it reached 1,083 ft (330 m), setting a new record low.[6] Arrangements are underway to pipe water from elsewhere in Nevada by 2011, but since the primary raw water intake at Lake Mead could become inoperable as soon as 2010 based on current drought and user projections, Las Vegas could suffer crippling water shortages in the interim.[7] Lake Mead draws a majority of its water from snow melt in the Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah Rocky Mountains. Since 2000 the water level has been dropping at a fairly steady rate due to less than average snowfall. As a result, marinas and boat launch ramps have either needed to be moved to another part of the lake or have closed down completely. The Las Vegas Bay Marina and the Lake Mead Marinas were relocated a few years ago to Hemenway Harbor. Overton Marina has been closed due to low levels in the northern part of the Overton Arm. Government Wash, Las Vegas Bay, and Pearce Ferry boat launch ramps have also been closed. The marinas that remain open include Las Vegas Boat Harbor and Lake Mead Marina all sharing Hemenway Harbor/Horsepower Cove, Callville Bay Marina, Echo Bay Marina, and Temple Bar Marina, along with the Boulder Launch Area (former location of the Lake Mead Marina) and the South Cove launch ramp.[8]

Changing rainfall patterns, natural climate variability, high levels of evaporation, reduced snow melt runoff, and current water use patterns are putting pressure on water management resources at Lake Mead as the population depending on it for water and the Hoover Dam for electricity continues to grow. A 2008 paper in Water Resources Research states that at current usage allocation and projected climate trends, there is a 50% chance that live storage in lakes Mead and Powell will be gone by 2021, and that the reservoir could drop below minimum power pool elevation of 1,050 feet (320 m) as early as 2017. Lake volume is now at the mercy of a cascade of forces that include the increased rate of evaporation caused by the smaller inventory of water in the reservoir; coupled with fact that it is very likely impossible that the prevailing climate pattern of profound drought will or can change to precipitation surcharge, in a time frame shorter than that in which the lake level will fall below the dead storage level of the downstream diversion, and hydro-power intake tunnels.

The diversion tunnels, used during construction, are at an elevation at which the flow of the river would continue indefinitely. But they were permanently sealed with massive concrete plugs, isolating them from the remaining sections of the downstream outlet tunnels when the main dam began to be raised and, later when the lake was filled. Today, it is very likely not possible that they could be removed from the diversion tunnels. And in doing so, it would effectively be the admission that the Hoover Dam project was finished, and had been terminated unsuccessfully. [9][10][11] But, Terry Fulp, manager of the federal bureau office for the lower Colorado, disagreed with the paper, saying that global climate models were not sensitive or refined enough to forecast such effects.

Recreation and marinas

Lake Mead offers many types of recreation to locals and visitors. Boating is the most popular. Additional activitinclude fishing, water skiing, swimming and sunbathing. There are five marinas on the lake: Forever Resorts at Callville Bay, Echo Bay, and Temple Bar Marina; and Las Vegas Boat Harbor along with Lake Mead Marina in Hemenway Harbor which are family owned and operated.[12] The area also has many coves with rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. There are several small to medium-sized islands in the lake area depending on the water level. In addition, the Alan Bible Visitor Center has a small cactus garden of plants native to the Mojave Desert.

B-29 crash

Main article: 1948 B-29 Lake Mead crash

At the bottom of the lake is a B-29 Superfortress that crashed in 1948 while testing a prototype missile guidance system known as "suntracker".[13]

The wreckage of at least two smaller planes are also within Lake Mead.[14]

See also

Panorama of Lake Mead

References

  1. ^ a b Bureau of Reclamation Lake Mead FAQ
  2. ^ a b Scott Gold (October 16, 2004). "It's a Historic Drought". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  3. ^ Bryan Walsh (December 4, 2008). "Dying for a Drink". TIME. Time Inc. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  4. ^ http://www.arachnoid.com/NaturalResources/
  5. ^ Arizona Game and Fish Department (2010). "Lake Levels/River Flow". Arizona Game and Fish Department. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  6. ^ Barringer, Felicity (October 18, 2010). "Lake Mead Hits Record Low Level". New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  7. ^ Tony Illia (2007). "Rural groundwater pipeline project presses ahead". Las Vegas Business Press. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  8. ^ National Park Service
  9. ^ Barnett TP, and Pierce DW (2008). "When Will Lake Mead go Dry?". Water Resources Research. 44: W03201. doi:10.1029/2007WR006704. [dead link]
  10. ^ "Lake Mead could be dry by 2021," press release from the American Geophysical Union
  11. ^ Barringer, Felicity (February 13, 2008). "Lake Mead Could Be Within a Few Years of Going Dry, Study Finds". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |rl= ignored (help)
  12. ^ http://www.LakeMeadOnline.com
  13. ^ "Lake Mead: Exploring the B-29". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
  14. ^ http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=416135
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

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