The American Southwest has been marred by a persisting megadrought for over 20 years. Because of this, bodies of water, like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, have dropped to record lows, raising concerns about access to drinking water for the surrounding areas.
Lake Mead, the largest human-made lake in the U.S., made a slight recovery in 2023 and 2024 after a dangerously dry 2022; however, the megadrought continues, and 2025 doesn’t look like it will bring any signs of relief.
At full capacity, Lake Mead sits at about 1,229 feet. However, it hasn’t been near that level since the summers of 1983 and 1999. With the changing water levels also comes a change in the shoreline. As the waters receded, sediment that had been seen since the 1930s was once again at the surface, and researchers scrambled to see how much of it they could.
Lake Mead is formed by ...
