Lake Mead has risen SEVEN FEET since the start of 2024 and is now on the cusp of being out of drought… but experts say America’s largest reservoir will drop by 20 feet later this year

America’s largest reservoir, which was feared to be on the verge of drying up, has now reached its highest level since 2021.

The federal government announced Wednesday that Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, has risen more than two meters since the start of 2024, bringing it to 375 meters.

There were concerns that Mead would suffer the same fate as the Aral Sea, which used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, but thanks to poor water management, the lake shrank rapidly in just a handful of decades.

Mead, which supplies water to 25 million people in the two states plus California, has not been full since 1983 because of extreme heat and decreased snowmelt that has dried up the Colorado River that feeds the reservoir.

If the body of water were to dry up, the population that depends on it would be left without water, America’s largest national recreation area would disappear and millions of people would be without power.

The federal government announced Wednesday that Lake Mead, located in Nevada and Arizona, has risen more than two meters since the start of 2024, bringing it to 375 meters.

The current increase is attributed to last year’s above-average rainfall, but experts believe the rainfall was a short-term solution that is unlikely to remain stable throughout the year.

In the summer of 2022, the water level in the reservoir dropped to 300 meters above sea level, the lowest level since its construction in the 1930s.

The reservoir is at its highest level since May 4, 2021, which saw a steady increase in late November 2023.

However, officials have warned that if Mead drops below 300 meters it will be considered an ‘inactive pool’, but at a height of 250 meters the reservoir will be considered a ‘dead pool’.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) conducted a high-flow experiment last April, releasing water from Glen Canyon Dam at a rate of 39,500 cubic feet per second for 72 hours.

If the body of water were to dry up, the population that depends on it would be without water, America’s largest national recreation area would disappear and millions of people would be without power.

The idea was to open the flow of water to Lake Mead.

In May the reservoir was 1,051.30 feet above sea level and in early September it reached another 15 feet, remaining stable for the rest of the year.

Although the current condition of Lake Mead is hopeful, it cannot be determined what will happen next; officials will have to see how much snow falls in the Rocky Mountains this year.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently shared forecasts that suggest water levels are likely to drop another 29 feet over the next two years and could fall further.

“The one wet year we’ve had is only part of the way there,” Bart Miller of Western Resource Advocates said in a statement last month.

“We still have a lot of work to do to rebalance our demand for water with what the river provides.”

Although the rise has exceeded expectations for the month – data showed it would reach 1,073 on February 29 – water levels are expected to drop a further 6 meters by the end of November.

The reservoir is at its highest level since May 4, 2021, when it rose steadily in late November 2023. Pictured is Lake Mead in January 2023.

A wet winter has helped levels rise another 29 feet from historic lows, but that recovery appears to have been wiped out by the end of 2025.

And the agency’s “likely minimum” forecast could be off the figure by another five feet.

Lake Mead is fed by the iconic Colorado River, which has experienced a one-fifth drop in flow since 2000, which scientists say is due to rising temperatures and climate change.

Average temperatures in the upper basin – where most of the river’s flow comes from – have risen by about 3 degrees since 1970, with researchers attributing the increase to global warming.

And some studies have suggested the flow could drop by 40 percent by mid-century.

Talks are underway among the seven states that share river production on how to reduce water use by the time the existing agreement expires in 2026.

Meanwhile, the federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to promote conservation initiatives that have already pushed water levels 40 feet higher than predicted by the end of 2022.

Districts representing farmers and other large users in California agreed last month to significant cuts in use in exchange for a $295 million federal grant.

“Less than a year ago, the Colorado River was in a very different place than it is today,” said JB Hamby, California’s Colorado River Commissioner.