Where the Colorado River crisis is hitting home

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation, has shrunk so low there's concern the Hoover Dam will soon be unable to generate hydropower. (Kirk Siegler/NPR)

LAS VEGAS — These days it can feel almost cliche to throw around the word Dystopian. But it's hard not to use it while standing on the narrow road crossing the Hoover Dam as tourists gawk at the hulking structure's exposed columns that for decades were underwater.

"It's amazing to see the water so low," says Arthur Murzeau, who's on holiday in Las Vegas from Belgium.