Water levels at Nevada’s Lake Mead drop to new low

LAS VEGAS — Drought in the southwestern U.S is depleting the vast Lake Mead on the Colorado River to levels not seen since Hoover Dam was completed and the reservoir was filled in the 1930s.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials in Nevada said Tuesday the water level at the reservoir serving Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles will drop this week and should be about 1,080 feet above sea level by November.

That’ll be below the nearly 1,082 feet recorded in November 2010, and below the 1,083 feet in April 1956 during another sustained drought.

The lake level is currently a little under 1,082 feet, and it’s about 39 percent full.

Bureau regional chief Terry Fulp says water deliveries will be met this year and next year to cities, states, farms and Indian tribes.

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