The latest object to emerge out of a shrinking reservoir that spans Arizona and Nevada is a sunken boat from World War II. The Higgins landing craft, which was 185 feet beneath the surface for so long, is now almost halfway out of Lake Mead.
It is located less than one mile from Lake Mead Marina, Hemingway Harbor and Hemingway Harbor. According to Las Vegas Scuba, the boat was originally used to survey Colorado River decades before being sold to the marina. It was then sunk.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Higgins Industries of New Orleans made several thousand landing craft in 1942 and 1945. Around 1,500 Higgins boats were deployed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. This is known as D-Day.
This boat is the latest object to be found in a string of objects that have been discovered by falling water levels in Lake Mead. It is the largest reservoir created by humans in the U.S. and held back by the Hoover Dam. Two sets of human remains were discovered in May within a span of one week.
Experts believe that climate change and drought are responsible for the lake’s decline since its fullness around 20 years ago.
States in the U.S. West are increasingly facing deeper cuts in their Colorado River supply as water levels fall at Lake Powell and Lake Mead upstream along the Arizona-Utah border. Lower levels can also affect hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam, which hold back Lake Powell.
Camille Touton, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, stated last month that the agency would take steps to protect the system if seven states in Colorado River basin fail to quickly find a way to reduce the water use by up to 4,000,000 acre-feet — more than Arizona’s and Nevada’s combined.
A quarter of an acre is 325,850 gallons. The average household uses half an acre to one acre of water per year.
California and Mexico have already enacted mandatory and voluntary cuts. To prop up Lake Powell, water from the upper basin reservoirs — Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado — was released.
The majority of river supply is used by farmers.
