# What do you think will happen when the water level at Lake Mead falls below 1050 feet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201 "2021-11-11T18:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/221 "2022-08-13T10:56:05Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Some scientists are predicting that instead of more drought there could be a megaflood one of these years. I don’t think that’s “instead.” While certainly there wouldn’t be a drought and a megaflood at the same time, they might take turns. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/222 "2022-08-13T11:29:21Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > In the meantime, a fourth body has been found at Lake Mead. I wonder if the mafia will start supporting the fight against climate change. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/223 "2022-08-13T14:08:50Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I wonder if the mafia will start supporting the fight against climate change. “Nice coal fired plant your got here. It’d be a shame if nothing happened to it.” ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/224 "2022-08-13T20:01:46Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I don’t think that’s “instead.” While certainly there wouldn’t be a drought and a megaflood at the same time, they might take turns. The Sierras act as a gigantic reservoir for all of California, storing immense amounts of water in their snowpack during the winter, then releasing it slowly via the thaw. Humans have augmented this by building several dams fed by the snowpack to allow the flow to be regulated even more, all the way into autumn when the rains return. But when the globe warms, there is more winter precipitation evaporating off the Paciific, but it falls as rain rather than snow. Instead of staying up in the Sierras and thawing slowly, it is likely to overload those dams - much as nearly happened to the Oroville Dam a few years back. Then, when the rain has all washed out to sea (and probably having taken some towns with it), the capacity of those dams won’t be enough to supply sufficient irrigation water to last the entire growing season, as the dams won’t be refreshed through the early-mid summer by Sierra snowmelt. Boom - floods and drought in the same year. Nice and ironic for late-night comedy writers to have plenty of fun with; not so nice for farmers and residents of the San Joaquin valley. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/225 "2022-08-14T14:39:55Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > “Shouldn’t”? But they do. Cities exist where they do because during their history the right combination of factors led them to be successful. For cities in the desert southwest, there has been enough water to sustain them, and then some - they grow cotton and hay in AZ because there has been enough water for that, too. But right now they got this drought going on, and there is just enough water for now to keep things going, except the cotton and hay - those farmers are going to suffer. Nitpick, it’s not just “right now” and the drought conditions. Both in the desert southwest and outside it numerous US cities and agriculture is relying on drawing more water from the ground than is returned to it. The desert agriculture and now the cities are just first to feel it, in part due to the drought, but a miraculous refill of Lake Mead would only be delaying the water issues, not solve them. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/226 "2022-08-14T14:51:53Z")
I wonder how much longer before the B-29 emerges. > **[1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Lake_Mead_Boeing_B-29_crash)** > > The 1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash occurred 21 July 1948 when a Boeing B-29-100-BW Superfortress, modified into an F-13 reconnaissance platform and performing atmospheric research, crashed into the waters of Lake Mead, Nevada. > On 13 September 1945, “Lake Mead’s B-29,” serial number 45-21847, was put into service. In 1947 it was stripped of armaments, re-classified as a reconnaissance B-29 (F-13), and moved into the Upper Atmosphere Research Project. The purpose of this project was to develop a... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/227 "2022-08-14T17:02:29Z")
The Overton arm was always a bunch shallower than the two main bodies of Lake Mead. I don’t know exactly where the bomber is, but unless it’s right in the center of the arm, it’ll be showing up soon. Although the wiki says the whole thing is one giant pile of clinging mussels in a semi-airplane shape. So probably not a real impressive monument, nor something that can be practically recovered and moved to a air museum. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/228 "2022-08-14T17:32:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > nor something that can be practically recovered and moved to a air museum. \ > **[Boomers](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Boomers)** > > The Boomers are an isolationist tribe occupying the Nellis Air Force Base in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. The Boomers are a tribe formed out of a group of vault dwellers who originally inhabited Vault 34. The overstocked, unprotected armory led to... > **[Crashed B-29](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Crashed_B-29)** > > The crashed B-29 is a vehicle and location in the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas. On July 21, 1948, a B-29 Superfortress bomber crashed into Lake Mead, close to Lake Mead Cave and Callville Bay. Magazine articles written about the event,... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/229 "2022-08-15T10:21:33Z")
What’s funny about your references (and I know exactly zero about _Fallout_) is that Callville Bay is about 50% gone _today_. By 2250+ when the game is set, it’ll be Callville salt flat. And that assumes the dam keeps operating normally, whatever “normally” means when there’s almost no water flow to work with. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/230 "2022-12-02T15:39:28Z")
This article is more about upstream Lake Powell, but they are also facing the prospect of having to shut down the Glen Canyon Dam power producing turbines. I know this has been mentioned above, but the article digs into other issues such as the environmental damage also being caused by these low levels. The Colorado River’s future is looking grim. > [@](#): > > Ultimately, the Colorado River would “become less like a river,” Yackulic said, “and more like an irrigation ditch.” > **[Officials fear ‘complete doomsday scenario’ for drought-stricken Colorado River](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/dec/01/officials-fear-complete-doomsday-scenario-for-drou/)** > > A once-unfathomable scenario — Lake Powell dropping to historic lows and shutting down power generators that serve millions — could start as soon as July. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/231 "2022-12-02T15:53:24Z")
Usage of Lake Mead for water consumption is vastly more important than for electricity generation. Hoover Dam (which has the electrical generating facilities) is only the 54th largest power station in the country: > **[List of largest power stations in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_power_stations_in_the_United_States)** > > This article lists the largest electrical generating stations in the United States in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear, natural gas, oil shale and peat, while renewable power stations run on fuel sources such as biomass, geothermal heat, hydro, solar energy, solar heat, tides, waves and the wind. > As of 2020 the largest power generating facility is the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. The facility generate... ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/232 "2022-12-02T16:00:09Z")
Glen Canyon Dam produces even less but it is also the drinking water source for a couple smaller AZ towns. It’s just another article about the poor prospect for all of the reservoirs along the Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/233 "2026-08-08T01:03:31Z")
Here we go again. > **[Lake Mead sets a new record low. It’s only the beginning](https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/environment/lake-mead-sets-a-new-record-low-its-only-the-beginning-3860660/)** > > Lake Mead briefly fell to its lowest level on record as federal forecasts predict years of declining water levels amid the worsening Colorado River crisis. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/234 "2026-08-08T02:36:59Z")
States will have to do cutbacks in usage: > **[New Colorado River plan will require steep cuts for three states as...](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/climate/lake-mead-powell-colorado-water-cuts-ca-az-nv)** > > California, Arizona and Nevada will be required to slash their water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River by 16 to 20% through 2028, under a federal plan set to be released in the next few days, according to a senior water official in one of... ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/235 "2026-08-14T00:56:03Z")
Well, El Niño may come to the rescue…or not… > **[How super El Niño could impact Lake Powell, Lake Mead's water crisis](https://www.newsweek.com/super-el-nino-could-impact-colorado-river-lake-powell-lake-mead-water-crisis-11966013)** > > A potential “super” El Niño could bring some relief to the drought-hit Colorado River system, according to experts. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/236 "2026-08-14T22:14:13Z")
Lake Mead is currently at [1,039.81 feet.](https://mead.uslakes.info/Level/) ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/237 "2026-08-14T22:40:28Z")
If only we could have predicted this happening and done something about it when there was still time… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/238 "2026-08-14T23:07:02Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Lake Mead is currently at [1,039.81 feet.](https://mead.uslakes.info/Level/) Probably okay to round that off to 1,040. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/239 "2026-08-15T12:44:36Z")
“Take care of the hundredths of a foot and the feet will take care of themselves.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201/240 "2026-08-15T16:34:28Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Well, El Niño may come to the rescue…or not… At best it would only delay the inevitable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201.md?page=13)