Third set of human remains found as Lake Mead dries up near Las Vegas

Lake's water levels have hit record lows this year due to prolonged drought

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  A sunken Second World War-era Higgins landing craft that used to be nearly 61 metres underwater is revealed near the Lake Mead Marina in the US state of Nevada as the waterline continues to fall. AFP

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  The water level at Lake Mead is at its lowest since being filled in 1937. Getty

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  A climate change-fueled megadrought coupled with increased water demand in the south-western US have dried up portions of the lake. Getty

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  A vehicle towing a boat drives past a sign welcoming visitors to Lake Mead. The water level is at its lowest since 1937. Getty

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  People paddleboard at Willow Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US but is shrinking at a terrifying rate and now stands just one quarter full. AFP

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  A 'bathtub ring', a white band of mineral deposits showing previous water levels, is illuminated at sunset at Lake Mead. AFP

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  People fish and play in the water on Lake Mead. It is the largest reservoir in the US, a huge man-made body of water formed by the construction of the Hoover Dam in the early 1930s. AFP

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  A sign indicates the Lake Mead waterline in 2000 in contrast to current low water levels. AFP

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  The Lake Mead Marina in Nevada. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US but now stands just one quarter full. AFP

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  A white band of mineral deposits shows Lake Mead's previous water levels. AFP

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  A formerly sunken boat is stuck nearly upright in a now-dry section of lakebed at drought-stricken Lake Mead. Getty

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  Boats are docked on a drought-stricken Lake Mead. Fears are increasing that Lake Mead could become a ‘dead pool’, when the water levels become too low to flow downstream from the nearby Hoover Dam. Getty

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  A mud-encrusted teddy bear sits in a formerly sunken boat. AP

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  Dead and desiccated fish arranged by a visitor to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area stick out of cracked mud. AP

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  Craig Miller smokes a cigarette beside his stranded houseboat. He had been living on the boat for more than two weeks after engine trouble and falling lake levels left it above the water level. AP

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  A coyote walks across dry land that was once under the waters of Lake Mead. AP

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  Bobby Rhinebolt, right, smokes a cigarette while sitting beside Victor Perez near a formerly sunken boat implanted upright in mud and now above the water line at Lake Mead. AP

More human remains have been found in Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada, the third set to be discovered this year.

Two other sets of remains were discovered in May at Lake Mead, whose water levels have hit record lows this year due to a prolonged drought in the area.

National Park Service rangers on Monday received a report of human remains that had been discovered at the lake's Swim Beach.

Rangers have set up a perimeter to recover the remains and the Clark County medical examiner has been contacted to determine the cause of death, the NPS reported, giving no further details.

A body enclosed in a barrel was discovered on the lake's shoreline in early May and another skeleton was found in Callville Bay a week later.

Investigators suspect the remains found inside the barrel was a murder victim who was killed in the 1980s, based on personal items found with the body.

The reservoir's water levels have plunged in recent months. As of Tuesday, Lake Mead's water level had hit about 317 metres — 13 metres lower than the level reported during the same period in 2020.

“I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains” at the bottom of the reservoir, police homicide detective Lt Ray Spencer said in an interview with KLAS earlier this year.

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

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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.