The body was found inside a barrel in Mead Lake and is believed to have been murdered

(CNN) –Decline in water level Lake fishThe country’s largest reservoir, dried up by drought, revealed another confusing finding this weekend, police say: a body in a barrel.According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lieutenant Ray Spencer, a man found the barrel in the lake Sunday afternoon. The barrel was rusty so the person could see the remnants inside.

Spencer said in a statement Tuesday that investigators believe the man may have been murdered and died of a gunshot wound.

According to the report, they are now investigating and “detectives believe the man was killed between the mid-1970s and early 1980s, based on the clothing and shoes the body was found in”.

Investigators are working to confirm the victim’s identity, which will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Approximately 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico depend on Meat Lake water, which emits at a dangerous rate. Great drought due to climate change.

“The lake has dried up a lot in the last 15 years,” Spencer said earlier.

“Then they could have thrown the barrel hundreds of feet off the shore, but now that area is considered shore,” Spencer said.

Great drought in three states

As of Monday, the water level in the lake was close to zero 321 meters above sea level, About 49 meters below its level in 2000, it was last considered overflowing. This is the lowest recorded level of the reservoir since it overflowed in the 1930s.

In August, the federal government announced Unprecedented water scarcity In the Colorado River, it feeds into the reservoir, which causes a water cut in the southwestern states starting in January.

Last week, the low water level of the lake was exposed for the first time Original water inlet valves Of the reservoir. According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency responsible for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in southern Nevada, including Las Vegas, the valve has been in operation since 1971, but can no longer draw water.

Lake Powell Lake, the nation’s second largest reservoir, has also receded over the Colorado River. Under a limit This threatens not only the downstream water supply but also the hydropower generation for the surrounding communities.

Across the West, severe rainfall deficits have already taken a significant toll this year, according to the U.S. Drought Monitoring Report. Severe and exceptional drought, two bad estimates, spread across the states of New Mexico, Arizona and the Colorado River basin.

CNN’s Stephanie Elam contributed to this story.