A person who was spending time at Lake Mead near Las Vegas Sunday afternoon discovered a dead body in a barrel, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
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LVMP homicide lieutenant Ray Spencer said the person could see the remains of the body in the barrel because it was corroded.
Lake Mead is the country’s largest reservoir – it’s beset by drought, resulting in the lowest water level on record since it was filled in the 1930s.
“The lake has drained dramatically over the last 15 years,” Spencer said. “It’s likely that we will find additional bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead. The barrel was likely dropped hundreds of yards off the shore back then, but that area is now considered the shoreline.”
Last week, the lake’s low water level exposed one of the reservoir’s original water intake valves for the first time. The valve had been in service since 1971 but can no longer draw water, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency responsible for managing water resources in southern Nevada, including Las Vegas. The SNWA serves 2.2 million people.
Back in August, the federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River, which feeds the reservoir, resulting in unprecendented water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest beginning in January.
Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, is located upstream on the Colorado River. Water levels there have dropped severely as well, to a point that threatens downstream water supply and hydropower generation for the surrounding communities.
Approximately 91% of the western U.S. is suffering some level of drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. Extreme and exceptional drought, the two worst designations, expanded across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. The states are all part of the Colorado River basin.