Lake Mead: more human remains found at drought-stricken reservoir

Rangers have received reports of 'human skeletal remains' at reservoir facing plunging water levels

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  The penstock towers on the reservoir side of the Hoover Dam. In normal years, the water would be significantly higher.

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  Horseshoe Bend, a natural U-turn in the Colorado River downstream of Lake Powell.

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  Professor David Kreamer of the University of Nevada Las Vegas looks out over the Hoover Dam.

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  A wide shot Lake Mead and the Las Vegas Marina reveals how low the water levels are this year.

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  A stretch of the Colorado River, looking downstream from Horseshoe Bend.

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  The Hoover Dam was completed in 1936, creating Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US.

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  The chalk-white ring on the canyon walls reveals how much the water has dropped in Lake Mead in recent years.

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  A stretch of the Colorado River along Route 128 in Utah.

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  A dry stretch of the Colorado River bed outside of Moab, Utah.

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  A ring of white shows where the water level once reached on Lake Powell.

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  Fish swim in Lake Mead near the Las Vegas Marina.

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  Cory Olsen, 64, poses on his motorboat at a boat ramp on Lake Powell. Mr Olsen has been boating on the lake since he was 12 and is alarmed by the low levels.

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  Tourists gather at Horseshoe Bend, a natural U-turn in the Colorado River.

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  Joe Lapekas, owner of Lake Powell Paddleboards in Page, Arizona, looks out at the water.

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  Kayakers carry their boats down the rocky banks of Lake Powell. In normal years, they would be able to float their kayaks off the tarmac ramp.

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  An arid landscape along Route 128 in Utah.

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  Kayakers rest on the dry shore of the Colorado River in Horseshoe Bend.

More human remains were discovered at Lake Mead at the weekend, less than a week after a barrel containing a possible murder victim was discovered at the body of water located near Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rangers first received a witness report of the discovery of “human skeletal remains” at Callville Bay at Lake Mead on Saturday afternoon, the National Park Service said in a news release.

A rusted metal barrel, near the location of where a different barrel was found containing a human body, sits exposed on shore during low water levels due to the western drought at the Lake Mead Marina on the Colorado River. AFP

A perimeter was constructed to allow authorities to recover the remains.

The Clark County medical examiner has been contacted to help determine the cause of death, the agency said, and added that there is “no further information available at this time”.

This is the second in recent weeks that human remains have been discovered at Lake Mead, whose water levels are hitting record lows.

A barrel containing human remains was first spotted by boaters on May 1, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said.

Upon opening the barrel, authorities discovered the remains of a possible murder victim. They stated the person was probably killed in the 1980s based on personal artefacts found inside the barrel.

“We believe this is a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound,” Lt Ray Spencer of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Authorities said more bodies would likely be found as Lake Mead's water levels continue to drop.

The reservoir's water levels have plunged in recent weeks. As of Monday, Lake Mead's water level was about 320 metres above sea level — the lowest water level recorded at the reservoir since it was filled in 1930, CNN reported.

Formed during the construction of the Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona border, the reservoir is the largest in the US.

More than 40 million people rely on water provided by the Lake Mead and upstream Lake Powell, The Associated Press reported.