{"id":401423,"date":"2026-07-16T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401423\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:10:08","slug":"man-found-dead-in-intake-pond-at-mojave-desert-water-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/401423\/","title":{"rendered":"Man found dead in intake pond at Mojave Desert water plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An unidentified man was found dead early Wednesday inside a water-pumping plant in the desert near the California-Arizona border, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department responded to the Iron Mountain Pumping Plant about 6:45 a.m. after receiving word that a person had been found floating in the plant\u2019s intake area, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The man was described as bald, white, approximately 5 feet 9 and weighing 225 pounds. He was wearing a white tank top and orange shorts when he was found, the Sheriff\u2019s Department said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The plant is located in Earp, Calif., in the Mojave Desert south of Needles. <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mwdh2o.com\/how-we-get-our-water\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Operated by the<\/a> Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, it is part of the network that brings water to Southern California via the Colorado River Aqueduct. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities conducted \u201ca comprehensive death investigation\u201d and a \u201cthorough search of the surrounding area,\u201d authorities said. The search also included assistance from the Metropolitan Water District Aviation Unit.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s department has not been able to determine how the man entered the waterway, but no foul play is suspected at this point. Further investigation into the cause and manner of death is being handled by the San Bernardino County Coroner\u2019s Division, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the sheriff\u2019s department at (760) 326-9200.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An unidentified man was found dead early Wednesday inside a water-pumping plant in the desert near the California-Arizona&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6577,7,9,8,6246,44006,161113,161116,1555,31373,72694,161115,5848,21313,2637,1009,161114,161112],"class_list":["post-401423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-authority","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-department","tag-desert","tag-intake-area","tag-intake-pond","tag-man","tag-manner","tag-metropolitan-water-district","tag-mojave-desert-water-plant","tag-network","tag-san-bernardino-county-sheriff","tag-sheriff","tag-southern-california","tag-thorough-search","tag-water-pumping-plant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}