Lake Mead

Named for Dr. Elwood Mead, U.S. Reclamation Commissioner between 1924 and 1936, Lake Mead is the largest manmade reservoir in the United States. The lake and its surroundings were established in 1964 as the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the waters of which back up 110 miles behind Hoover Dam, which created it after its completion in 1935. Lake Mead can store nearly two years of average Colorado River flow, about 28.5 million acre feet of water. (An acre foot of water is 325,851 gallons, or enough to cover an acre to a depth of one foot.) This water is released in a regulated, year-round flow as needed.

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