Human remains found again in a reservoir near Las Vegas

By Dennis

Lake Mead, a federal park and the largest reservoir in the country, was again this weekend the scene of an unexpected discovery of what appear to be human remains, authorities said. 

The find occurred late Saturday morning at the Swim Beach recreation area, the National Park Service said in a statement.

Park rangers cordoned off the area as divers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department helped remove debris. 

It was the fourth time since May that remains, possibly decades old, have been reported in the lake located in Arizona and Nevada, 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

The discoveries include the following:

• May 1: Remains were found in a metal barrel.

  The victim had sustained a gunshot wound and her death could date to the 1970s or early 1980s based on clothing, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.

• May 7: Remains were found in another barrel discovered along the shoreline, authorities said.

• July 25: Wreckage reported at Swim Beach.

A sign marks the 2002 waterline near Lake Mead at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Saturday, July 9, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev.John Locher/AP

The Clark County Medical Examiner is responsible for determining identities, where possible, and possible causes of death.

A discovery of wreckage on July 6 near the Bolder Islands reservoir turned out to be the body of a woman who had gone missing after falling from a jet ski on June 30, authorities said.

The other four finds of possibly much older wreckage, experts have explained, could be the result of the lake's waterline receding, which has exposed about 170 feet since 1983 of its so-called white "bathtub ring," made up of for dry minerals.

The reservoir is about a quarter of its capacity.

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In May, the Southern Nevada Water Authority disclosed that one of its water supply intakes was exposed to the falling surface of the lake and could no longer be used to draw liquid.

The authority said that it was aware that this could happen for a long time so it had prepared a deeper entry in advance. 

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Since at least the dawn of the millennium, the main western and southwestern regions of the country have suffered from almost continuous drought.

The mighty Colorado River did not reach the Gulf of California until last year, when a binational agreement returned the water to the Mexican delta.

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The Southwest relies increasingly on the Colorado River, which provides drinking water and helps grow food for an estimated 33 million people.

This has also been a factor in the lowering of the lake level.

Due to water shortages, the federal government last year announced mandatory water shutoffs for the seven states that use the Colorado.

In June, Lake Mead sat at about 1,044.03 feet, the lowest level on record since the lake was filled in the 1930s. In July, that number was broken by a new low: 1,040.92 feet.

Some observers have speculated that the lake could reveal

in the decades after World War II.

Mob Museum historian and vice president Geoff Schumacher told NBC News affiliate Las Vegas's KNSV that the mob was unlikely to dump the bodies so close to the city because he was averse to the kind of publicity and attention. police he might have created.

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"The mob doesn't want murder victims to be found in the city because it creates bad publicity in a tourist town," he told the station in July.

However, Schumacher said in May that a body in a barrel is a different story.

"

" he said.

“Putting a body in a barrel.

Sometimes they would throw him into the water,” he recounted. 

Lake Mead was created by the Hoover Dam, completed in 1935, and officially opened the following year.

It stopped the flow of the Colorado River through the Black Canyon and pushed the water into four basins that can help retain the flow of the river for two years.