As Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, suffers from record-low water levels amid ongoing drought, authorities are investigating the discovery of human remains found there last week.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Office in Utah announced on Aug. 20 that it was looking to identify and determine the cause of death for remains found on Lake Powell on Aug. 14.

The remains were first spotted by a group on a houseboat, the sheriff’s office said. Sheriff’s investigators and National Park Service rangers responded and collected the remains, which were taken to the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office.

Lake Powell has reached record low water levels in recent days, and along with Lake Mead to its south has been emptying amid severe drought in the West. Lake Powell and Lake Mead are a source of drinking and agricultural water along with hydroelectric power, storing water from the Colorado River.

It’s not the first time remains have been uncovered at Lake Powell, which sits in parts of southern Utah and northern Arizona. In September 2025, authorities pulled from the lake a truck with the body of an Arizona man who had been missing for two years, the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

Bodies, sunken boats and the remains of towns that were submerged when the reservoir was made have also been discovered at Lake Mead when water levels were low.

Plunging water levels uncover hidden history

The announcement of remains found at Lake Powell comes as authorities also found remains at Lake Mead near Las Vegas on Aug. 16.

The National Park Service said there’s no indication of suspicious circumstances with the remains found at Lake Mead, and investigators are working to identify them.

In 2022, the body of a man who investigators believe was shot sometime in the 1970s or ’80s was found stuffed in a barrel in Lake Mead. That person is still yet to be identified. At least three other bodies were found in Lake Mead that year, of people who died in 2002, 1998 and 1974.

Dozens of sunken boats and even a World War II-era B-29 that crashed in 1948 have also been uncovered at Lake Mead.