government. the mighty waters of the colorado were running unused to the sea. today we translate them into a great national possession. this is an engineering victory of the first order. another great achievement of american resourcefulness, american skill and america determination. the cop instruction of the hoover dam led to the creation of lake mead, a manmade reservoir that holds enough water to flood the state of colorado with a foot of water. now it has dropped to a record low. when it is below capacity, you can see the equivalent of a bathtub ring on the surrounding rock. the shortage is primarily due to a one-two punch of a growing regional population and severe drought. that s bad news for the 40 million people who rely on the water in the colorado river basin including the cities of las vegas and los angeles. and things could get worse.