Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in America, formed by damming the nearby Hoover Dam. It offers recreational activities and covers an area of 247 square miles. The National Park Service manages recreation, while the Bureau of Reclamation operates the dam and power plant. Sediment and water loss occur annually, and the area was once dry land. Glen Canyon Dam contributes to the lake’s sustainability.
Lake Mead is essentially the largest body of water in America. This man-made lake was formed from dammed water from the nearby Hoover Dam. Established as a National Recreation Area in 1964 by the National Park Service, Lake Mead offers many recreational activities for visitors, such as boating, swimming and fishing. Lake Mead is surrounded by black lava rock and red sandstone at the junction of the Great Basin, Mojave and Sonoran deserts.
At high water, the elevation of this lake is 1,229 feet (374.6 meters) above sea level. It features an outfall weir system designed to prevent overfilling at 1,221.4 feet (372.3 meters) above sea level. This reservoir covers an area of approximately 247 square miles (397.5 square kilometers) at an elevation of 1,221.4 feet (372.3 kilometers). It extends approximately 110 miles (177 kilometers) upstream from the Grand Canyon region and its width is known to reach up to eight miles (12.8 kilometers) at its widest.
Lake Mead can hold a maximum total of approximately 28,537,000 acre feet of water (35.2 cubic kilometers) at 1,221.4 feet (372.3 kilometers) above sea level. The acre-foot of water is a unit of measurement equivalent to approximately 326,000 gallons (1,234,044 liters) of water. This reservoir is large enough to hold two years’ equivalent of the Colorado River’s annual flow at one time.
The National Park Service is the institution responsible for recreation around the Lake Mead area, while the Bureau of Reclamation maintains and operates the dam, reservoir, and power plant connected to the lake. The Lake Mead Basin is named for Elwood Mead, who was working as a commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation at the time the Hoover Dam was being built.
Significant sedimentary deposits accumulate in this lake every year. It accumulated approximately 91,000 acres (0.1 cubic kilometers) of sediment between the years 1935 and 1963. A significant amount of water from here is lost to evaporation on an annual basis. Each year, approximately 800,000 acres (0.9 cubic kilometers) of water from this reservoir evaporate.
The area currently occupied by this tank was relatively dry land. The damming of the Colorado River led to the creation of this gigantic reservoir. Several Early Desert Indian cultures once thrived in and around the area now known as Lake Mead. Glen Canyon Dam, located approximately 370 miles (595.5 kilometers) upstream from Lake Mead, contributes to the lake’s sustainability.
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