Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in the USA. It is connected to the Colorado river and provides water for over 20 million people across Nevada, California, Arizona and parts of Mexico.

Like many other bodies of water in the world, Lake Mead is shrinking.

Extreme temperatures are drying it up, humans are drawing too much from it and there’s now less snow in winter that melts to replenish it.

But what makes Lake Mead so interesting is its proximity to Las Vegas. Less than 50km away, this city of big lights and big money has a dark underbelly. And where there’s organized crime, stuff usually ends up in the water. Or as the mob would say, sleeping with the fishes.

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The water level of Lake Mead is the lowest it has been since the 1930s. In fact it is currently at just 27 per cent capacity.

Stark imagery shows a line on the rocks towering high above the surface of where the water should be. In the space of around 20 years the water level has dropped by up to 50 meters in some areas.

Read more: yahoo