Water elevation of Lake Mead in the United States 2000-2023, by month

Lake Mead's water elevation at the end of June 2023 was 1,056.39 feet above sea level. At the end of June 2022, Lake Mead's elevation was 1,043 feet above sea level, and the following month it had dropped to 1,041 feet above sea level. This was roughly 44 feet lower than the monthly elevation in July 2020, and the lowest monthly water level recorded since Lake Mead was first formed by the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. At full capacity, Lake Mead has a water level of 1,229 feet above sea level.

Lake Mead nearing dead pool status

Situated on the border of Arizona and Nevada, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is a crucial water source that provides drinking water to tens of millions of people in the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. However, experts have warned that if the lake continues to recede due to the severe droughts across the Southwestern United States, it will become a dead pool. This means that there will not be enough water for the Hoover Dam to produce hydropower or deliver water downstream to metropolitan centers.

U.S. water resources are depleting

With large swathes of western U.S. in the midst of a megadrought (a period of prolonged drought that spans more than two decades), many other lakes have been severely depleted in recent years. Water levels of major reservoirs in California have fallen to all-time lows in recent years. California’s two largest reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Oroville Lake, were at less than half capacity in July 2022.