A man who spent time at the lake on Sunday afternoon found the barrel, according to Ray Spencer, a lieutenant in the Las Vegas Police Homicide Squad. The man could see the remains in the barrel because it was corroded.
Investigators believe the body was a murder victim in the 1980s based on objects found from the barrel, Spencer said.
“The lake has drained dramatically in the last 15 years,” Spencer said, noting that “additional bodies likely to have been dumped into Lake Mead are likely to be found as the water level drops more.”
“The barrel was probably dropped hundreds of yards from shore then,” Spencer said, “but this area is now considered a shoreline.”
The homicide researchers plan to consult with researchers at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas to determine if the corrosion rate is consistent with the fact that the barrel has been in fresh water for so long.
The body underwent an autopsy Monday morning, Spencer said. The autopsy results are not yet available Monday afternoon, according to the Clark County Coroner’s office.
Some 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico rely on Lake Mead, which is depleting at an alarming rate amid a climate-induced mega-soul. As of Monday, the lake’s water level was about 1,054 feet above sea level – about 160 feet below the level of 2000, when it was last considered full. This is the lowest level recorded for the tank since it was filled in the 1930s. In August, the federal government announced an unprecedented shortage of water on the Colorado River, which feeds the reservoir. This caused cuts in water consumption for the states in the southwestern part of January. Last week, the low water level in the lake also revealed for the first time one of the tank’s original water intake valves. The valve has been in operation since 1971, but can no longer draw water, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency responsible for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in southern Nevada, including Las Vegas. Upstream of the Colorado River, water levels at Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, have also fallen and recently fallen below a threshold that threatens not only downstream water supply but hydropower production to surrounding communities. a big sacrifice this year, with about 91% of the region at some level of drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. Extreme and extreme drought, the two worst designations, have spread to New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado – all states that are part of the Colorado River Basin.
CNN’s Stephanie Elam contributed to this story.
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