Colorado River · U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Lake Mead
Hoover Dam · 28.95 MAF capacity at full pool
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About Mead
Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States by maximum capacity. It sits behind Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, straddling the Arizona–Nevada border roughly 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
Hoover Dam was completed in 1936 and is operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Mead supplies water to the Las Vegas metro, Arizona's Central Arizona Project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and Mexico under the 1944 U.S.–Mexico water treaty.
Daily storage, elevation, and release values come from the USBR Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE). Shortage tiers follow the 2019 Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan. USBR declares the operating tier for each calendar year in August, based on the projected January 1 elevation in the August 24-Month Study.