Lake Mead May Reach Record Lowest Levels in 2025, Scientists Warn

Lake Mead could drop to its lowest point ever in 2025, new projections have estimated.

The latest "most probable" projections from the Bureau of Reclamation estimate that Lake Mead could reach water levels as low as 1,040.77 feet in September 2025.

This is the lowest the lake has ever been. It has reached this point before, in July 2022. It is the lowest the reservoir has been since it was first constructed in the 1930s.

Officials are constantly monitoring the lake's water levels as they have been of serious concern in recent years.

The reservoir lies on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada. It is the largest manmade reservoir in North America, and provides water for 25 million people living in the surrounding area.

The lake's water levels have been drying up largely due to the severe drought conditions that have gripped the southwest over the past few years.

The lake has seen some relief in 2023, however. The west saw months of extremely heavy rainfall and storms this past winter. While this caused flooding and disruption to the region, it did mean record amounts of snowpack accumulated in the surrounding mountains.

This snowpack then melted with the spring weather, replenishing the west's vital reservoirs like Lake Mead.

At the beginning of the year, Lake Mead's water levels stood at 1,044 feet. It then saw a huge spike in May, when levels rose to 1,066 feet, before becoming fairly stagnant once again with the arrival of the cold weather.

As of November 22, water levels were at 1,064.75 feet.

"Water levels in Lake Mead vary seasonally," Jennifer Pitt, National Audubon Society's Colorado River program director, previously told Newsweek. "It's most important to keep an eye on the change year over year for both Lakes Mead and Powell, which is indicative of whether the Colorado River water supply is increasing, decreasing, or stable. Both reservoirs are projected to have more water in them at the end of 2023 than they did at the end of 2022, thanks to a very wet winter of 2022-2023."

Despite the wet year the reservoir has seen, scientists are still concerned. The new projections illustrate that one wet year has not saved the reservoir in the long term.

Climate change has meant that extreme weather patterns have become more common, meaning the region may see another period of bone dry conditions.

"We can hope for more snow in years to come, or we can reduce our consumption. Reducing water use is a proactive step we can take, and one we should continue to take in the coming years," Tom Corringham, a research economist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, previously told Newsweek.