Could Lake Mead dry up? Shocking pictures reveal how Hoover Dam reservoir is shrinking so fast it could threaten Las Vegas water supply


When it was created in 1935 by the building of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead was the largest artificial lake in the world.



But the glorious Nevada lake, which has provided decades of water sports and boating, has lost 4 trillion gallons of water in the past 14 years.



Satellite photos that chart the effect of a drought that began in 2000 and is starting to threaten the Las Vegas water supply reveal the dramatic extent to which the reservoir has dried up.

Scroll down for video

Full to the brim: The water level in Lake Mead, a man-made reservoir created by the Hoover Dam, has fallen from the high level pictured above

Drop: More parts of the dam, and a deep white bathtub ring on the rocky edges, shows the dramatic fall in the water level

The lake provides water to 20 million people in southern Nevada, California and Arizona, with Las Vegas channeling 90 per cent of its supplies from Mead.



It is a popular tourist destination, where families flock to its shores to swim, go boating, and fish for the 40lb striped bass that live there.



But the reservoir, which is capable of holding 9.2 trillion gallons, is running low, and experts say it is expected to drop a further 20ft in the coming year.



' This was all underwater. I mean boats were everywhere. There was a whole marina here,' Pat Mulroy, of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told CBS News.

' It's a pretty critical point. The rate at which our weather patterns are changing is so dramatic that our ability to adapt to it is really crippled,' she added.

The deep white 'bathtub' ring that is already clearly visible along the rocky edges of the reservoir is expected to become wider this year.



If it does, Nevada and Arizona will be subject to automatic water supply cuts. The water level is dropping so low that one of the pipes that takes water to Las Vegas could soon be visible.



Beginning: A satellite image taken in 2000, the year the drought began, shows the shoreline of Lake Mead

Receding: A satellite image taken in the same month in 2003 shows an already dramatic reduction

Dry land: Aerial images taken in May 2000, top, and May 2004, show how the receding water cut off two marinas

Shrinking: A 14-year drought has lowered the water level of the reservoir, which supplies water to Las Vegas and parts of California

Tracked: The red outline in the bottom right image shows how Lake Mead has shrunk from 1990, top left, to 2009, bottom left

Super size: When it was created in 1935, Lake Mead was the largest man-made reservoir in the world

Drop: A deep white bathrub ring has been exposed as the ongoing drought lowers the water level









