A decades-long drought and population growth has left the Colorado River over-leveraged and in dire need of a new management plan before the water runs out for millions of Americans.
 Negotiations between seven states to reapportion the river’s water have been deadlocked for months, and the federal government is threatening to break the deadlock with its own management plan — whether the states like it or not.
The Department of the Interior has given Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming a deadline to reach an agreement twice, and each time the states blew past it without reaching consensus.
The federal government’s request is unprecedented in U.S. history. The Colorado River supplies water for roughly 40 million Americans. The Bureau of Reclamation has asked the Basin states to cut water usage by about one-third.
The latest deadline passed on Wednesday with six of the seven states agreeing on a plan to cut water usage, with only California dissenting. The Golden State put forward its own plan emphasizing its priority rights over the Colorado River that have been a part of the legal framework governing the basin for a century.
The lack of consensus increases the chance that the Bureau of Reclamation will devise its own plan and force the basin states to follow it whether they like it or not. The bureau needs a plan soon in order to model the water level of the river and its reservoirs and complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the basin. The EIS will inform the Department of the Interior’s long-term water management strategy.
The Colorado River has been governed under the same rough legal framework of water apportionment for the past 100 years, though it has been updated as new infrastructure has been added and court cases have been settled. The body of law that governs the basin is collectively known as “<a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g1000/lawofrvr.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Law of the River</a>.”
The cornerstone of that legal framework was set in 1922 in an agreement called the Colorado River Compact. The agreement divided the basin into upper and lower halves and guaranteed each 7.5 million acre-feet of water from the river. The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 allotted 1.5 million acre-feet of the Colorado River to Mexico. One acre-foot is about the amount of water two or three households use in a year.
The upper basin, where the Colorado River originates, consists of parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and is above the river’s two reservoirs: Lake Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam, and Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam. The lower basin states – Arizona, California, and Nevada – are located roughly below the reservoirs and can pull from them, whereas the upper basin must rely on the river’s natural flow.
<div id="attachment_497819" style="width: 569px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-497819" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-497819" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Colo-River-Basin-states-3-559x576.webp" alt="" width="559" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Colo-River-Basin-states-3-559x576.webp 559w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Colo-River-Basin-states-3-291x300.webp 291w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Colo-River-Basin-states-3-768x791.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/Colo-River-Basin-states-3.webp 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px" />Colorado Foundation for Water Education</div>
The 1922 agreement that set out the apportionment for the upper and lower basins may always have been too optimistic. The compact <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2022/07/11/running-dry-in-the-american-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> the Colorado River’s annual flows at 17 million acre-feet. In the century since, the river has averaged about 12 million acre-feet annually. The compact, we now know, was drawn up during the river’s wettest season in the past 500 years, according to Shawn Regan, vice president of research at the Property and Environment Research Center.
In addition to poor planning and population growth, the river is under stress from an extended drought that has beat down on the American West for over two decades. A study <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-west-megadrought-f02449c2db4f0ebeb1557bb39504c62d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> last year suggests that the West is the driest it’s been in 1,200 years.
“In the Colorado River Basin, the period from 2000 through 2021 has been the driest 22-year period recorded in more than 100 years of record-keeping,” Tanya Trujillo, an experienced water lawyer and Interior’s assistant secretary for Water and Science, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl/colorado-river-drought-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Congress in 2021. “The reservoir system was 95 percent full in 2000, but as of September 28th, Colorado River system reservoirs sit at just 39 percent, the lowest levels since they began to fill.”
The water level has continued to drop since Trujillo’s testimony. The strain is evident in the Colorado River basin’s two major reservoirs. Lakes Powell and Mead are both at all-time lows. Lake Mead, in particular, has made a number of ghastly headlines over the past year as its water level has dropped, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sixth-set-of-skeletal-remains-found-in-lake-mead" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealing</a> sunken ships and bodies weighted and sunk to its lake bed.
Officials across the seven states fear what could happen as each reservoir approaches two low-water <a href="https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2022/05/16/what-is-dead-pool-a-water-expert-explains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">benchmarks</a>, each of which would have severe consequences.
The first and highest benchmark is known as the minimum power pool elevation: the level at which the lakes need to sit in order for their dams to produce hydropower.
The Glen Canyon and Hoover dams produce power for millions of Americans. Should that power be cut off, the worst effects could be mitigated by siphoning power from other parts of the U.S. electrical grid.
The scenario officials are seeking to avoid at all costs, which would likely have catastrophic effects, takes place at the lower benchmark, a condition known as “dead pool.” If the reservoirs reach dead pool status, no more water can flow downriver from the lakes. The effects would be disastrous for cities such as Los Angeles, which <a href="https://viterbi.usc.edu/water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gets</a> half its water from the Colorado River, and Las Vegas, which <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/us/california-water-proposal-colorado-river-climate/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gets</a> 90% of its water from the Colorado.
Despite the urgency, officials across the seven states have not been able to agree on a way to collectively cut down water usage from the Colorado by two to four million acre-feet as the Interior Department has requested. The brunt of the responsibility to cut has fallen on the lower basin states. The upper basin states are only <a href="https://www.coloradoriverdistrict.org/imbalances-in-the-colorado-river-basin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulling</a> about half their legal allotment of water because the drought has crippled the river upstream.
The lower basin states cannot agree on how to implement the cuts. The two sides on Wednesday clashed to a large extent on California’s insistence that priority water rights, a feature of the current legal framework that give priority to claims to the Colorado River’s water made earlier, still apply.
“[D]espite big disagreements about how to approach this, we have unanimity among all seven states that very deep cuts in Lower Basin water use are needed,” University of New Mexico professor and Colorado River expert John Fleck <a href="https://www.inkstain.net/2023/02/deadpool-diaries-the-numbers-in-the-states-two-proposals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> Wednesday. The two sides both presented plans based on cuts that scale up as the water level in Lake Mead falls.
“The difference is in timing,” Fleck wrote. “California’s cuts don’t kick in until later – essentially a gamble on good hydrology once again helping us avoid conflict by letting us use more water in the short term.”
Officials in Arizona, which has the second-largest water usage in the lower basin behind California, recognized California’s legal claim, but said the approach simply is not realistic.
“If you want to model cutting off most or all of the water supply of 27 million Americans, you can go through the exercise but implementing that on the ground would have the direst consequence for almost 10% of the country,” Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager John Enstminger told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/us/california-water-proposal-colorado-river-climate/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>.

Lake Mead near Hoover Dam

Over 40 Million People Rely On Water From The Colorado River. It’s Dangerously Close To Drying Up.

Arizona

California

Colorado

Department of the Interior

Drinking Water

drought

Lake Mead

New Mexico

Readers Pass

U.S.

A group of divers discovered another set of skeletal remains in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lake-mead" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lake Mead</a> last week, marking the latest findings as the sixth set recovered since May.
A park service dive team searched the lake after a commercial diver found &#8220;what appeared to be a human bone in the Callville Bay area&#8221; on October 17, the Lake Mead National Park Service told Fox LA.
&#8220;At this time, no foul play is suspected,&#8221; Stefani Dawn, a Park Service spokesperson, told <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/human-remains-found-by-divers-at-lake-mead-2665166/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Las Vegas Review-Journal</a>. &#8220;The Clark County coroner&#8217;s office has been contacted to confirm the identity of the deceased.&#8221;
According to Clark County Public Affairs Officer Stacey Welling, the divers were performing contract work at the marina in Calville Bay when they discovered the initial evidence of the human remains.
While the details of the latest discovery are still unknown, the grim finding comes after five other sets of human remains have been found since May.
Historic drought levels have impacted the shrinking Colorado River reservoir near the Hoover Dam, drying up local waterbeds into deserts.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/riverops/hourly7.html#t0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> Lake Mead&#8217;s water levels hit a historic low, roughly 1,046 feet, which has left mountains surrounding the area with an imprint showing how far the levels have dropped.
According to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/historic-lake-mead-drought-leads-disturbing-discoveries-dried/story?id=92124028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>, D.J. Jenner, the owner of Las Vegas Scuba, said that he had witnessed the water levels sink down to approximately 40 feet after observing the lake for years when he first opened his business.
&#8220;There&#8217;s still plenty of water out here for people to come out and enjoy the lake, but it is going down pretty quickly,&#8221; he said.
Park services officials first announced that a group of boaters discovered the first body with a gunshot wound inside a metal barrel stuck in the mud near the lake&#8217;s Hemenway Harbor on May 1.
Detectives on the case believe the victim may have been murdered sometime between the mid-1970s to the early 1980s based on the clothing and footwear found with the body, a local NBC affiliate reports.
Less than a week later, authorities found a second set of remains that surfaced at Callville Bay, which a local County coroner said she believes belong to someone between 23 and 38 years old.
National Park Service authorities announced nearly two months later that rangers responded to a report on July 25 of the third set of human remains found at the park&#8217;s Swim Beach area in Boulder City, Nevada.
On August 16, park rangers responded to a report of the discovery of human skeletal remains in the Swim Beach area of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
NASA, which recently released satellite images of the drought&#8217;s impact on Lake Mead, reports that the lake holds the record for the largest reservoir in the U.S. The reservoir supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands, and northern Mexico.
Lake Mead hit its peak in the 1980s, with levels reaching 1,225 feet above sea level. However, NASA satellite imagery shows a dramatic decrease in water levels as lakeshore areas have mineralized over the past 22 years.
The reservoir hit its lowest drop since April 1937 while the lake was still filling for the first time during the construction of the Hoover Dam.

US-CLIMATE-DROUGHT

Sixth Set Of Skeletal Remains Found In Lake Mead

Climate Change

General

Las Vegas

Mafia

More human remains were found Monday at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lake-mead" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lake Mead</a> as water levels continue to recede due to severe drought conditions, marking the latest discovery as the fifth set recovered since May.
National Park Service <a href="https://www.nps.gov/lake/learn/news/skeletal-remains-found-at-lake-mead-national-recreation-area.htm">reported</a> Tuesday that rangers responded to a report of the discovery of human skeletal remains in the Swim Beach area of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Authorities set a perimeter to recover the remains with support from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s dive team and later contacted the Clark County medical examiner.
The investigation is ongoing.
The announcement comes after four other human remains <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-body-found-in-lake-mead-as-water-levels-remain-at-record-lows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have been found</a> over the last few months.
Park services officials announced that a group of boaters discovered the first body with a gunshot wound inside a metal barrel stuck in the mud near the lake’s Hemenway Harbor on May 1.
“We were docking our boat to go home and heard a woman scream,” Shawna Hollister, who was at the lake, said. “My husband walked over and found the body. His shirt and belt were the only things we could see over his decomposing bones.”
The man, dubbed Hemenway Harbor Doe by the coroner’s office, had been shot in the head. “Anytime you have a body in a barrel — clearly there was somebody else involved,” Lieutenant Jason Johannson of the homicide division told CNN.
Detectives on the case believe the victim may have been murdered sometime between the mid-1970s to the early 1980s based on the clothing and footwear found with the body, a local NBC affiliate reports.
Authorities found another set of remains that surfaced at Callville Bay less than a week later.
Todd Kolod, who lives in Spain, said he believes the set of remains belonged to his father, who drowned at 22 in Callville Bay in 1958, per the Daily Mail.
Kolod said his father was on a speed boat with a friend when it hit a wake, knocking both riders into the water. The friend survived while Kolod’s father’s body was never recovered.
Melanie Rouse, Clark County coroner, believes the remains belong to someone between 23 and 38 years old, although the cause of death remains unclear.
National Park Service authorities announced nearly two months later that rangers responded to a report on July 25 of the third set of human remains found at the park’s Swim Beach area in Boulder City, Nevada.
CNN reports Rouse said the remains are only partial and are still in the early stages of examination.
Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the 8 News Now investigation team he believes as water levels drop, more additional human remains would resurface.
“I think anybody can understand there are probably more bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead,” Spencer said. “It’s just a matter of, are we able to recover those?”
Amid the lake drying up at historic levels and a string of bodies emerging to its surface, a World War II-era boat has also appeared in the receding Lake Mead.
The Daily Wire reported the boat, known as a Higgins landing craft, had sunk 185 feet below the lake’s surface before sticking out nearly halfway out of the water.
American forces used similar boats during the invasion of Normandy during World War II, and Higgins, a New Orleans-based company, manufactured the crafts from about 1942-1945.
NASA, which recently released satellite images of the drought’s impact on Lake Mead, reports that the lake holds the record for the largest reservoir in the U.S. The reservoir supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands, and northern Mexico.
Lake Mead hit its peak in the 1980s, with levels reaching 1,225 feet above sea level. However, NASA satellite imagery shows a dramatic decrease in water levels as areas of the lakeshore have mineralized over the past 22 years.
The reservoir hit its lowest drop since April 1937 while the lake was still filling for the first time during the construction of the Hoover Dam.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reports the level plunged to 1,041.30 feet, prompting officials to refill to just 27% of capacity as of July 18.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Lake Mead Falls To Just 27% Capacity

Severe Drought Conditions Resurface Fifth Set Of Human Remains At Lake Mead

Nevada

Severe drought conditions causing receding water levels at Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border have exposed another set of human skeletal remains Saturday, bringing the total number of recovered bodies to four since May.
The National Park Service <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.nps.gov/lake/learn/news/human-skeletal-remains-found-at-lake-mead-national-recreation-area.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> rangers received an emergency call Saturday morning reporting the remains were discovered at Swim Beach in Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Authorities said rangers set up a perimeter at the beach to recover the remains with help from divers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and further contacted the Clark County Medical Examiner&#8217;s Office to determine the cause of death.
The announcement comes after three other human remains have been found over the last few months.
Park services officials announced a group of boaters discovered the first body with a gunshot wound inside a metal barrel stuck in the mud near the lake&#8217;s Hemenway Harbor on May 1.
&#8220;We were docking our boat to go home and heard a woman scream,&#8221; Shawna Hollister, who was at the lake, <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-skeletal-remains-found-at-nevada-lake-following-discovery-of-decomposed-body-on-shore" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;My husband walked over and found the body. His shirt and belt were the only things we could see over his decomposing bones.&#8221;
The man, who authorities dubbed Hemenway Harbor Doe by the coroner&#8217;s office, had been shot in the head and had a metal overcoat in the shape of a barrel as it reportedly rested in the lake for years.
The homicide division for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police immediately began conducting an investigation.
&#8220;Anytime you have a body in a barrel — clearly there was somebody else involved,&#8221; Lieutenant Jason Johannson of the homicide division told <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/07/us/more-skeletal-remains-at-lake-mead/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>.
Detectives on the case believe the victim may have been murdered sometime between the mid-1970s to the early 1980s based on the clothing and footwear found with the body, a local NBC affiliate <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://news3lv.com/news/local/gunshot-wound-believed-to-be-cause-of-death-for-body-found-in-barrel-at-lake-mead-las-vegas-metro-police-lvmpd-homicide-nevada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>.
Authorities found another set of remains that surfaced at Callville Bay less than a week later.
Todd Kolod, who lives in Spain, said he believes the set of remains belonged to his father, who drowned at 22 in Callville Bay in 1958, per <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11089303/FOURTH-set-human-remains-drought-hit-Lake-Mead-man-says-second-body-drowned-dad.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a>.
Kolod said his father was on a speed boat with a friend when it hit a wake, knocking both riders into the water. The friend survived while Kolod&#8217;s father&#8217;s body was never recovered.
Melanie Rouse, Clark County Coroner, believes the remains belong to someone between 23 and 38 years old, although the cause of death remains unclear.
National Park Service authorities announced nearly two months later that rangers responded to a report on July 25 of the third set of human remains found at the park&#8217;s Swim Beach area in Boulder City, Nevada.
CNN <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/07/us/more-skeletal-remains-at-lake-mead/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> Rouse said the remains are only partial and are still in the early stages of examination.
Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.8newsnow.com/i-team/i-team-body-found-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-may-date-back-to-1980s-more-likely-to-appear-as-water-recedes-las-vegas-police-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8 News Now </a>investigation team he believes as water levels drop, more additional human remains would resurface above the water.
&#8220;I think anybody can understand there are probably more bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead, Spencer said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just a matter of, are we able to recover those?&#8221;
Amid the lake drying up at historic levels and a string of bodies emerging to its surface, a World War II-era boat has also appeared in the receding Lake Mead.
The Daily Wire reported the boat, known as a Higgins landing craft, had sunk 185 feet below the lake&#8217;s surface before sticking out nearly halfway out of the water.
American forces used similar boats during the invasion of Normandy during World War II, and Higgins, a New Orleans-based company, manufactured the crafts from about 1942-1945.
NASA, which recently released satellite images of the drought&#8217;s impact on Lake Mead, <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150111/lake-mead-keeps-dropping" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> the lake holds the record for the largest reservoir in the U.S. The reservoir supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands, and northern Mexico.
Lake Mead hit its peak in the 1980s, with levels reaching 1,225 feet above sea level. However, NASA satellite imagery shows a dramatic decrease in water levels as areas of the lakeshore has mineralized over the past 22 years.
The reservoir had hit its lowest drop since April 1937 while the lake was still filling for the first time during the construction of the Hoover Dam.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/weekly.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> the level plunged to 1,041.30 feet prompting officials to refill to just 27 percent of capacity as of July 18.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Devastating Drought Conditions Reveal Fourth Set Of Human Remains Found In Lake Mead: Officials

NASA

Another body was discovered in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lake-mead">Lake Mead</a> this week as water levels in the reservoir remain at all-time lows. 
The discovery of the body follows that of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-skeletal-remains-found-at-nevada-lake-following-discovery-of-decomposed-body-on-shore">two others</a> earlier this year, prompting speculation into the origins of the bodies as officials continue to investigate.
On July 25, the third body was <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/lake-mead-third-body-found-dropping-water-levels-drought-colorado-nevada-hoover-dam-1728305">found</a> around Swim Beach, where many park visitors go to swim. Park officials closed the area and began investigating after finding out about the body. 
&#8220;Park rangers are on scene and have set a perimeter to recover the remains,&#8221; the National Park Service said in a statement. &#8220;The Clark County Medical Examiner has been contacted to determine the cause of death. The investigation is ongoing.&#8221;
It is not yet known whether the person was male or female, but Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said that the body was found lodged in mud at the receding shoreline just north of the Hemenway Harbor Marina. 
On Thursday, authorities located the <a href="https://news3lv.com/news/local/body-of-kayaker-found-at-lake-mead">body</a> of a kayaker who went missing this week and is believed to have drowned. The 31-year-old male lost control of his kayak while on the lake and then appeared to go under the water on Wednesday.
After a search involving scuba divers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, the body was found, and the incident is still under investigation. 
While the lake itself has been known to be hazardous to swimmers, the first body found this summer is decades old, and some think it could be connected to a possible mob killing. The FBI has also began investigation into this body to help local authorities. 
Earlier this month, shrinking water levels also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-war-ii-era-boat-surfaces-in-lake-mead-as-water-levels-continue-to-sink">unveiled</a> a World War II-era boat that had been submerged.
A Higgins landing craft surfaced near Hemenway Harbor and the Lake Mead Marina, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/national-park-service">National Park Service</a> (NPS) hoped that its emergence would have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-history">educational</a> purposes. The Higgins craft found in Lake Mead was used to explore the Colorado River and later by a local diving company. 
Similar boats were used by American forces during the invasion of Normandy during World War II, and Higgins, a New Orleans based company, manufactured the craft from about 1942-1945.
“There are relatively few working or museum examples of the LCVP Higgins craft like the one currently emerging from Lake Mead,” NPS <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/shrinking-lake-mead-reveals-world-war-ii-era-boat-2601189/">said</a>, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Lake Mead, Nevada, USA

Another Body Found In Lake Mead As Water Levels Remain At Record Lows

Violent Crime

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-war-ii">World War II</a>-era boat has surfaced in the receding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lake-mead">Lake Mead</a> months after several bodies were found as water levels plummeted due to an ongoing drought.
“The Higgins landing craft that has long been 185 feet (56 meters) below the surface is now nearly halfway out of the water at Lake Mead,” the Associated Press <a href="https://kmph.com/news/local/world-war-ii-era-boat-emerges-from-lake-mead-las-vegas-shrinking-water-level-environment-marina-hemingway-harbor">reported</a>. “It was used to survey the Colorado River decades ago, sold to the marina and then sunk, according to dive tours company Las Vegas Scuba.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
World War II-era boat emerges from shrinking Lake Mead <a href="https://t.co/jU0itxF8cY">https://t.co/jU0itxF8cY</a>
&mdash; FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) <a href="https://twitter.com/fox5dc/status/1543312323070287879?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Similar boats were used by American forces during the invasion of Normandy during World War II, and Higgins, a New Orleans based company, manufactured the crafts from about 1942-1945.
The boat surfaced near Hemingway Harbor and the Lake Mead Marina, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/national-park-service">National Park Service</a> (NPS) hopes that its emergence will have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-history">educational</a> purposes.
“There are relatively few working or museum examples of the LCVP Higgins craft like the one currently emerging from Lake Mead,” NPS <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/shrinking-lake-mead-reveals-world-war-ii-era-boat-2601189/">said</a>, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
“As water levels continue to fluctuate and decline, we know that this boat may come to the attention of park visitors both new and returning. Lake Mead hopes everyone has the opportunity to learn more about its history and ask that as visitors enjoy the site, they leave it as they found it to avoid damaging the boat,” it continued.
The park service also explained more about the history of craft, and its connection to the World War II era, explaining that a thin half inch armor still protected the boat.
“The surplus nature of the craft highlights an earlier era of the Lake when Las Vegas and Lake Mead were much more remote and removed from much of the United States, where relatively inexpensive WWII surplus could be pressed into duty for new peaceful purposes in the park,” it explained.
Last month, skeletal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/probably-more-bodies-skeleton-washes-up-in-barrel-on-nevada-lake-shore">remains</a> washed up at the lake, leaving questions about the circumstances and who dumped the bodies in the lake.
One body, found in a barrel that had washed up onto the muddy shore of Lake Mead, was found by a group of boaters Sunday afternoon around Hemenway Harbor. According to authorities, it is believed that the body dates back to the 1980s, but it has not yet been disclosed how the body ended up in the barrel or in the lake.
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer <a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/i-team/i-team-body-found-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-may-date-back-to-1980s-more-likely-to-appear-as-water-recedes-las-vegas-police-say/">told</a> the 8 News Now investigation team. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”

Lake Mead at exceptionally low levels following the four year long drought, with the obvious level that the lake used to be at, Nevada, USA.

World War II-Era Boat Surfaces In Lake Mead As Water Levels Continue To Sink

American History

National Park Service

World War II

Now that the body of a man shot in the head has been discovered in the receding waters of drought-ravaged Lake Mead in Nevada, two Mafia experts speculate he could be one of three men connected to the Mafia who mysteriously disappeared.
The dead man, shot execution-style, according to local police, was wearing clothing from a mid-to-late 1970s Kmart discount store when it was discovered on May 1 inside a corroded metal barrel.
“Our research has found three possible victims who may be the body in the barrel,” <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10829211/Vegas-mob-experts-reveal-link-Lake-Mead-MOBSTERS-BARREL-HITMAN.html">wrote</a> two authors, who have written books on the Mafia, for The Daily Mail.
“The thread that strings these three men together is they were all linked to the most powerful Las Vegas mob operation of that time – Argent Corp., a front company for an organized crime operation that ran some of Las Vegas&#8217; top gambling operations,” the authors write.
Jeff Burbank, the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Las-Vegas-Babylon-Glitter-Glamour/dp/1590771362">Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed</a>, and Geoff Schumacher, the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Sin-Suburbia-History-Expanded/dp/1932173994">Sun, Sin &amp; Suburbia: The History of Modern Las Vegas</a> contend that one possible identity of the  victim could be George “Jay” Vandermark, who vanished in 1976.
Vandermark worked at the Stardust casino overseeing the slot machines but “facilitated the skimming of between $7 million and $15 million worth of coins,” the authors contend, adding, “The mob wanted him dead, but we doubt that it is him in Lake Mead.”
The second identity suggested by the authors: William Crespo, who testified before a federal grand jury that ultimately indicted 10 defendants, including an executive for a front company for a Mafia operation that supervised some of Las Vegas&#8217; chief gambling operations.
“We can reasonably — by virtue of his owning a boat at Lake Mead — place him at the scene of the dumping grounds around the time the murder may have occurred,” the authors surmise.
But the “leading candidate for the man in the barrel” the authors suggest is Johnny Pappas, who according to veteran Las Vegas journalist John L. Smith in <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/a-lake-recedes-a-body-emerges-and-the-ghost-of-johnny-pappas-rises-in-my-memory">The Nevada Independent</a> managed “Lake Mead&#8217;s Echo Bay Resort, a Teamsters Central States Pension Fund-financed project, for the Argent Corporation.”
“Did the Outfit fear that Pappas might have something to reveal about the then-unfolding details about skimming at the Argent casinos?” the authors ask rhetorically. “If so, they had a motive to rub him out.”
The authors speculate that infamous murderer Tony Spilotro may have killed the dead man, noting, “His weapon of choice was a .22-caliber pistol, equipped with a suppressor, and fired into the victim&#8217;s head.”
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer had <a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/i-team/i-team-body-found-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-may-date-back-to-1980s-more-likely-to-appear-as-water-recedes-las-vegas-police-say/">told</a> the 8 News Now investigation team. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”

Lake Mead Drought

Dead Man Talks: Mob Experts Offer Three Identities For Body Washed Up In Lake Mead

Mob Experts Offer Three Identities For Body Washed Up In Lake Mead

Murder

A former Las Vegas mayor who also served as an attorney for Mafia chieftains was impressed with the possibility that the Mob killed enemies and dumped them in Lake Mead.
Oscar Goodman, who represented Meyer Lansky, Frank Rosenthal and Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, stated he had no idea how the body of a man found in a barrel in the receding waters of the lake got there.
Still, he declared, “Dumping a body in a barrel and then dropping it in a lake is not a bad way to get rid of someone.”
“But nobody ever dreamt that lake would be as low as it is today,” he added in an interview with The Daily Mail.
The victim’s body was discovered close to Hemenway Harbor on May 1 after the water level plunged because of the megadrought in the area. The man had been shot in the head and had a metal overcoat in the shape of a barrel as it reportedly rested in the lake for years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
With the lake level dropping at Lake Mead, bodies are showing up&#8230;.this could get interesting&#8230;.🤔 <a href="https://t.co/Yw02aWgrBJ">pic.twitter.com/Yw02aWgrBJ</a>
&mdash; Troy Warren (@chvyrod) <a href="https://twitter.com/chvyrod/status/1520969170862583808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the 8 News Now. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”
“Everybody is asking me, ‘Who is it – and do you know who did it?’&#8221; Goodman said. &#8220;And I say to them, don&#8217;t bother asking me that. How do I know? Nobody ever came to me and said, ‘Mr. Goodman you think it&#8217;s a good idea for us to put someone in a barrel and put him in the lake?’”
“I&#8217;m waiting to see if the guy was shot with a .22,” Goodman said. “The favorite method of murdering somebody back in those days was to use a .22.”
“The .22 kills people, but it doesn&#8217;t cause great damage,” he explained. “It&#8217;s a small caliber bullet. And the person was usually shot in the back of the head. That&#8217;s the modus operandi in most of the cases with Mob related murders.&#8221;
“I have to say if I was a gangster I wouldn&#8217;t use a .22,” he theorized. “I&#8217;d use something that put a bigger hole in somebody.”
Goodman turned to joking: “I used to joke that when we had a development project such as a new store, and I was asked to cut the ribbon as mayor at the start of excavation, I would pray one of my former client&#8217;s hands didn&#8217;t come up from the ground. That always used to crack people up.”
“If I were a criminal and I was looking to commit a crime and had to hide something like a body I would think of the desert before dumping it in a lake,” he insisted. “That&#8217;s a lot of work to go out to Lake Mead and put somebody in a barrel, go out on the water and dump that barrel.”
“Going out to the desert, you take a shovel and you do it at night, little flashlight,” he said confidently. “It&#8217;s easy to bury somebody out there. It&#8217;s a big desert.”
&#8220;It used to be like the wild west in Las Vegas. But everything is much tougher for somebody to be a real mobster these days,” he stated.
Commenting on Las Vegas in the 1960s and 1970s, he argued, “It was a very safe place to live then.&#8221; He explained that mobsters would kill people out of state and not in Las Vegas.
“They would do it in California or Arizona because they did not want to bring attention to Las Vegas,” he concluded.

Iconic New Attraction Arrives At The D Las Vegas

‘Not A Bad Way To Get Rid Of Someone’: Former Las Vegas Mayor, Ex-Mafia Attorney Comments On Body Found In Lake Mead

More human remains have been discovered at a Nevada lake just days after a decomposing body was found in a metal barrel stuck in the muddy shoreline as the lake&#8217;s water levels fall amid a severe drought. 
The National Park Service (NPS) announced that skeletal remains were discovered Saturday afternoon at Callville Bay in the Lake Mead Recreation Area, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/human-remains-discovered-lake-mead-days-body-found-barrel-rcna27880">according</a> to NBC News. After the find, the area was roped off, and the Clark County Medical Examiner launched an investigation into the cause of death. 
The NPS <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/09/us/lake-mead-human-remains-drought-climate/index.html">added</a> that it had &#8220;no further information is available at this time.&#8221;
Lake Mead is the nation&#8217;s largest reservoir.
More than a week ago, another body was discovered by a group of boaters who noticed what appeared to be a skeleton in a metal barrel stuck in mud as they returned to shore. It is believed that the original body dates back to the 1980s.
“We were docking our boat to go home and heard a woman scream,” Shawna Hollister, who was at the lake, <a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/i-team-sources-body-found-at-lake-mead-outside-las-vegas/">said</a>. “My husband walked over and found the body. His shirt and belt were the only thing we could see over his decomposing bones.”
Ahead of the investigation, local police anticipated a complex probe.
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer <a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/i-team/i-team-body-found-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-may-date-back-to-1980s-more-likely-to-appear-as-water-recedes-las-vegas-police-say/">told</a> the 8 News Now investigation team. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”
“I think anybody can understand there are probably more bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead, it’s just a matter of, are we able to recover those?” he asked. 
After initial investigations, police <a href="https://news3lv.com/news/local/gunshot-wound-believed-to-be-cause-of-death-for-body-found-in-barrel-at-lake-mead-las-vegas-metro-police-lvmpd-homicide-nevada">suspect</a> that the body found in the barrel was a homicide victim. 
&#8220;We believe this is a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound,&#8221; Spencer announced in a press release. 
Lake Mead, crucial to a system providing water to millions of homes, has hit its lowest water level since its formation during the 1930s, when it was created as a byproduct of the Hoover Dam&#8217;s construction. It provides water to several states, including Arizona, California, and Colorado. 
“With more than 750 miles of shoreline, you can enjoy a day at the beach, take a boat out and disappear for hours or nestle into a cove to try to catch a big one,” the National Park Service <a href="https://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/lake-mead.htm">explains</a> on its website about visiting Lake Mead.

Lake Mead At Historic Low Levels Amid Drought In West

More Skeletal Remains Found At Nevada Lake Following Discovery Of Decomposed Body On Shore

Additional Skeletal Remains Discovered At Lake Mead Days After Skeleton Found In Barrel On Shore Line

Homicide

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