There is 4 more feet of water in Lake Mead than there was on this date 2 years ago. I guess THAT FACT wouldn’t inspire the kind of panic they are looking for though.
And 4' is significant in regards to a lake of that size. And you're right, anything bad or threatening the corrupt media is all over it. Like homeless...Barely a word about that during the decline era of Obama.
I believe the problem, while serious, is over-sensationalized. The problem with the system is two fold. One, when the Colorado river water supply was allocated years ago, it was apparently after a few years of particularly wet weather. So estimates of the average annual flow in the river were overly optimistic. This is the "structural" problem they refer to - the very structure of the agreements is flawed. Two, while the upper basin users have been using less than their allocation, the lower basin users have been using more - due to extra reserves from these wet years.
The upshot is, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the system - the reservoirs are doing exactly what was intended, evening out the natural ups and downs. They do need to re-evaluate average flows now that they have a couple more decades of data to work with, come up with realistic allocations, and then stick to them! The left coast isn't going to like that, because their supply of Colorado river water will be cut significantly. Well, it's going to be cut significantly one way or another here soon - unless CA tries taking over the upper basin dams by force.
Yes this issue is near and dear to me. I've spent a fair amount of time fooling around in the desert southwest and love it. I've also had several great trips to Powell and am looking forward to going there again. In fact I'll be out in that neighborhood next week - not at Powell, but not far away either, camping right on the Colorado.