Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California have warned that there is a 50 per cent chance that Lake Mead, the prime source of water for Las Vegas, may run dry in 13 years if usage is not cut back.
Located on the Arizona-Nevada border, Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the US. It has purportedly been severely affected by regional drought and, along with Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, is now half-full.
"We had not expected the problem to be so severe and so up close to us in time," said marine research physicist Tim Barnett, who went on to state that there is a 10 per cent chance the lakes will run out of usable water by 2013.
Both lakes were created by dams built on the Colorado River, which provides water for about 27 million people in seven states.
The researchers said that if Lake Mead’s water levels drop below 1,000ft, Nevada would lose access to all its river allocation, Arizona would lose much of the water that flows through the Central Arizona Project Canal, and power production would cease before the lake level reached bottom.
The lake level currently stands at 1,117ft.
