--- title: Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low description: Prompting concerns about a possible water shortage canonical: https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-24T14:08:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:28:50.473Z article:section: Science og:title: Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low og:description: Prompting concerns about a possible water shortage og:url: https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb96754e4c3d48fec/698858170b72e37f776e4a14/lake-mead.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: lake mead boulder city nevada og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low twitter:description: Prompting concerns about a possible water shortage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb96754e4c3d48fec/698858170b72e37f776e4a14/lake-mead.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 24, 2015 2:08 PM UTC  Cars sit parked at Lake Mead in Boulder City, Nev., June 4, 2015. Cars sit parked at Lake Mead in Boulder City, Nev., June 4, 2015.David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 24, 2015 2:08 PM UTC Lake Mead, the Arizona-Nevada reservoir that stores water for some western U.S. states and Mexico, [reached a record low on Tuesday](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/24/lake-mead-low-water-shortage/29202475/), falling below the level that could trigger a water supply shortage. If the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation predicts that the lake won’t rise above 1,075 ft. by January—it just hit 1,074.99—then it will announce a shortage in August, _The_ _Arizona Republic_ reports. Water managers are optimistic that won’t happen thanks to an unexpectedly wet spring, but the record low suggests water users are taking more from the Colorado River than it can really provide. “This is the check-engine light,” Drew Beckwith, water-policy manager with the Western Resource Advocates, told the paper. “It really does \[make critical\] the fact that we have to start changing.” \[[_The Arizona Republic_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/24/lake-mead-low-water-shortage/29202475/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/"},"headline":"Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low","datePublished":"2015-06-24T14:08:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:28:50.473Z","description":"Prompting concerns about a possible water shortage","url":"https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/","keywords":["Environment","Drought"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb96754e4c3d48fec/698858170b72e37f776e4a14/lake-mead.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb96754e4c3d48fec/698858170b72e37f776e4a14/lake-mead.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"lake mead boulder city nevada","caption":"lake mead boulder city nevada","creditText":"David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3933614/lake-mead-record-low-water-shortage/","name":"Lake Mead Reservoir Hits Record Low"}}]}] ```