A view of Lake Mead - in wetter times, the water came all the way up to the rocks
A once-in-a-lifetime drought in the western part of the US is turning up dead bodies - but that's the least of people's worries.
Sitting on the Arizona-Nevada border near Las Vegas, Lake Mead - formed by the creation of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River - is the largest reservoir in the United States and provides water to 25 million people across three states and Mexico. Here, the stunning scale of a drought in the American west has been laid plain for all to see.
The water level is now so low that bodies of murder victims from decades back, once hidden by its depths, have surfaced.
One was stuffed in a barrel with a gun shot wound - presumably because someone thought it would stay unnoticed at the bottom of the vast reservoir forever.
While the dead bodies are fuelling talk about Las Vegas' mob past, water experts warn of even more worrisome consequences. If the lake keeps receding, it would reach what's known as "dead pool" - a level so low the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to produce hydropower or deliver water downstream.
Californians have been told to conserve water at home or risk mandated water restrictions as a severe drought on the West Coast is expected to get worse during the summer months.
People have been told to limit outdoor watering and take shorter showers. In Los Angeles, many are being asked to cut their water use by 35%. The restrictions come after California recorded the driest start to the year on record.
Nasa, which monitors changing water levels, is warning that the western United States is now entering one of the worst droughts ever seen.
"With climate change, it seems like the dominoes are beginning to fall," Nasa hydrologist JT Reager told the BBC. READ MORE...
The water level is now so low that bodies of murder victims from decades back, once hidden by its depths, have surfaced.
One was stuffed in a barrel with a gun shot wound - presumably because someone thought it would stay unnoticed at the bottom of the vast reservoir forever.
While the dead bodies are fuelling talk about Las Vegas' mob past, water experts warn of even more worrisome consequences. If the lake keeps receding, it would reach what's known as "dead pool" - a level so low the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to produce hydropower or deliver water downstream.
Californians have been told to conserve water at home or risk mandated water restrictions as a severe drought on the West Coast is expected to get worse during the summer months.
People have been told to limit outdoor watering and take shorter showers. In Los Angeles, many are being asked to cut their water use by 35%. The restrictions come after California recorded the driest start to the year on record.
Nasa, which monitors changing water levels, is warning that the western United States is now entering one of the worst droughts ever seen.
"With climate change, it seems like the dominoes are beginning to fall," Nasa hydrologist JT Reager told the BBC. READ MORE...
