Lake Mead shrinks to record low amid punishing drought and consumer demand

Lake Mead, the largest U.S. reservoir, has shrunk to a record low amid a punishing drought and the demands of 40 million people in seven states who are sucking the Colorado River dry. 

The megadrought in the U.S. West has been worsened by climate change. Wildfire season has grown longer, blazes have become more intense and scorching temperatures have broken records — and as a result, lakes are shriveling.

Receding waters of Lake Mead National Recreation Area have revealed the skeletal remains of two people along with countless desiccated fish and what has become a graveyard of forgotten and stranded watercraft.