LAS VEGAS – A sunken boat dating back to World War II is the latest object to emerge from a shrinking reservoir that straddles Nevada and Arizona.
The amphibious assault ship Higgins, long 185 feet (56 meters) below the surface, is now about halfway out of the water in Lake Mead.
The boathouse is located less than a mile from Lake Mead Marina and Hemingway Harbor.
It was used to explore the Colorado River decades ago, sold to the marina and then sunk, according to diving company Las Vegas Scuba.
LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, NEVADA – JULY 01: A sunken WWII-era Higgins landing craft that was nearly 200 feet underwater is uncovered near the Lake Mead Marina as the waterline continues to recede on 01 July 2022 in L (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Higgins Industries in New Orleans built several thousand landing craft between 1942 and 1945, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. About 1,500 Higgins boats were deployed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day.
The boat is just the latest in a series of objects found in the receding water levels of Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the US, held back by the Hoover Dam. In May, two sets of human remains were discovered within a week.
Experts say climate change and drought have caused the lake to drop to its lowest level since it was full about 20 years ago.
As water levels drop in both Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream of the Arizona-Utah line, states in the western US increasingly face deeper disruptions to their supplies from the Colorado River. The lower levels also affect the hydropower produced by Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam, which impounds Lake Powell.
LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, ARIZONA – JUNE 24: A ‘ring of tubs’ of mineral deposits left by higher water levels is seen in drought-stricken Lake Mead on June 24, 2022 at Lake Mead National Recreation Area Meade, Arizona. US Bureau (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Towton said last month that the agency would take action to protect the system if the seven states in the Colorado River basin don’t quickly figure out a way to reduce the use of up to 4 million acre-feet of water — more than the share of Arizona and Nevada combined.
An acre-foot is about 325,850 gallons (about 1.23 million liters). An average household uses one-half to one acre-foot of water per year.
Two states, California and Mexico, have already adopted voluntary and mandatory layoffs. Water from some reservoirs in the upper basin – Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah – is released to support Lake Powell.
Farmers use most of the river’s supply.
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