Federal Officials Predict Shortage For Lake Mead in 2020, Adding More Pressure On States For Drought Plan

Thirty miles outside of Las Vegas, Lake Mead holds back Colorado River water for tribes, farms and growing cities across the Southwest. The reservoir, impounded by the Hoover Dam, is one of the most visible symbols of drought in the West. In nearly two decades of drought, the storage bank for the regional economy — and Las Vegas’ primary water supply — has dropped so many feet that there is a white chalky “bathtub ring,” a stark imprint of where the water line used to be.

Now the reservoir is teetering at the edge of shortage.