Nevada sues feds to block Colorado River cuts

Nevada sued the Trump administration on Aug. 24 over the federal government's newly released management plan for water conservation in the Colorado River basin. Under the plan, Nevada could have its 300,000 acre-foot allocation of Colorado River water cut by up to 213,556 acre-feet — or over 70% — in the basin’s driest years. The cuts would leave Las Vegas and surrounding cities with less than 86,500 acre-feet per year. In 2024, the area used nearly 212,500 acre-feet of water. 

The suit alleges that federal officials didn’t analyze the impact  that water use reductions of this magnitude would have on southern Nevada’s economy, despite a legal requirement for the department to address those impacts. It asks the federal court to set aside the new management plan and prevent it from being used until the conflict can be resolved, Shannon Mullane writes for The Colorado Sun.

The Sun reports: 

"It’s an “entirely unrealistic” level of shortages, said John Entsminger, the state’s top Colorado River negotiator and the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s general manager. 

“Over the past 25 years, southern Nevada has become a global leader in water efficiency, reducing our Colorado River consumption by about 40 percent even as the community added 800,000-plus residents, so we have clearly demonstrated our ability to adapt and do more with less,” Entsminger said in the news release. “However, conservation has its limits, and there is just no way to meet even the basic needs of this community with the volume of water Interior has proposed.”

The suit alleges that if upstream states took on more reductions, Nevada would not be so disproportionally hit by the cuts.