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Show Lake Mead j Largest Man-Made j Body of Water; Lake Mead, the reservoir created by Boulder Dam on the Colorado River, now contains 6,000,000 acre-feet acre-feet of water, a gain of 1,000,000 in 12 days. Lake Mead is the most imposing lake in the West and the greatest man-made body of water in the world. Its length of 89 miles exceeds ex-ceeds that of the Great Salt Lake in Utah by nearly 10 miles. It is 333 feet deep near Boulder Dam, many times deeper that the 60-foot maximum max-imum in the Great Salt Lake. John C. Page, Acting Commissioner Commission-er of Reclamation, reported tto Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes that the flow of the Colorado River still - is increasing with the peak of the spring flood not yet in sight. The river today is dumping water into Lake Mead at the rate of 141,000 acre-feet a day. Meantime the total of the water stored in other Bureau of Reclamation Reclama-tion reservoirs still is rising. "The promises of a good year on our projects are being fulfilled," Page said. "Where the storage in our reservoirs in April, Lake Mead included, totaled 6,262,359 acre-feet, -the- May storage is 7,966,198 acre-feet. acre-feet. The irrigation season now is under way, but diversions are riot expected to equal the run-off reaching reach-ing rair rpsprvoirs immediately. The peak storage has not yet been recorded. re-corded. "The year 1936 seems destined to go down in the history of the arid region as at least a break in the long drought, which started in 1929. Whether it is the end of that dry period or just a respite the future will have to tell. Runoff of normal proportions and on several watersheds water-sheds run-off considerably above normal this year will give all the irrigation farmers a breathing spell. There should be some carry-over in nearly all the reservoirs to help meet future emergencies." Ralph Lrowry, construction engineer engi-neer of Boulder Dam, reports that a total of 16,600 acre-feet a day is being passed by Boulder Dam to meet the needs of irrigators along the lower Colorado River. Work is going forward rapidly in connection with the installation of the generators at the" Boulder power house. A total of 1,434 men is employed em-ployed and the installation Of the first battery of generators is 65 percent per-cent complete. |
