US-AMID-CONTINUED-DROUGHT.-LAKE-MEAD-HITS-HISTORIC-LOW-WATER-LEV

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 01: Park visitors view Lake Mead from a vista point on September 01, 2026 in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, has fallen to its lowest level since it began filling nearly 90 years ago and is now just 26% full. In July, the combined storage of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs, fell to its lowest level since 1957, prompting the U.S. Department of the Interior to mandate twenty percent cuts in water usage for the next two years for Arizona, California and Nevada. Seven U.S. states and Mexico depend on the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 35 million people and is the water source for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)