The State of Nevada filed a federal lawsuit Monday in an effort to block the Interior Department's new operating guidelines for the Colorado River, just three days after Interior Secretary Doug Bergum signed the plan imposing mandatory cuts for Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada.
Nevada's water use is less than that of other Lower Basin states and now the federal government wants the state to make further cuts, which state officials argue are unfair and harmful.
The lawsuit was led by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and joined by the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
"This isn't about political posturing; this is a matter of survival for a community that represents about two-thirds of our state's citizens and the lion's share of its economy," Lombardo said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, asks the court to stop the plan from being implemented until legal issues are resolved.
Nevada's position is that, while the Department of the Interior conducted an environmental impact study, it only considered some issues, like the agricultural and river-based recreation impacts that would result from reduced water deliveries.
That study did not, however, take into account the broader economic impact on the area, the lawsuit alleges.
"The impact of draconian curtailments on southern Nevada's $180 billion economy were not analyzed, despite a legal requirement for Interior to address those impacts, an issue Nevada raised during the comment period," the suit reads, in part.
According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Southern Nevada has cut its water consumption by 40% over the past 25 years, despite adding 800,000 residents, all due to conservation efforts like water recycling.
Lawmakers and water experts say the long-term impact could be devastating.
While Nevada could withstand the initial proposed cuts, it's the long-term cuts that officials consider "unrealistic." Nevada stands to have its water allocation cut by as much as 70% over the next decade, leaving Las Vegas and surrounding cities with less than 87,000 acre-feet per year. On the SNWA website, residents are being advised that the area is in a "tier one shortage," which means it needs to reduce its Colorado River water use by 21,000 acre-feet this year.
"Nevada is not currently using its full Colorado River allocation, and near-term shortage declarations will not likely impact current customer use," SNWA said. "By the end of 2024, Nevada's consumptive Colorado River Water use was 212,400 acre-feet. This amount is below any Colorado River water supply reduction under existing rules."
The Las Vegas metro area used less than 213,000 acre-feet in 2024, according to data from the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Speaking with constituents in Boulder City, which is situated between Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) says the long-term cuts would significantly impact the local economy.
"What's come out recently is that it's not 16%. It's not 28%. It could be up to 70% of cuts over the next 10 years. That would devastate us," Titus said following a round-table discussion about economic impacts to outdoor recreation businesses.
Titus says that lawsuits delay decisions, but the deal was "misleading."
The Mountain West News Bureau reached out to the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation for comment on the lawsuit. A BOR spokesperson said the department "does not comment on litigation matters."
The Department of Interior's cuts call for reductions in deliveries of Colorado River water among the Lower Basin States of 1.25 million acre-feet each year for the next two years. If the Lower Basin States implement their proposed sharing agreement, the reduction per state would be, for 2027-2028:
- Arizona: 760,000 acre-feet
- California: 440,000 acre-feet
- Nevada: 50,000 acre-feet
Additional details can be found at the Bureau of Reclamation's website.
Nevada leaders have repeatedly said that Colorado River water use is a shared responsibility and all seven states should shoulder some portion of that responsibility rather than placing it all on the Lower Basin states.
"You can't let 'em take 70% of the water from Nevada, especially when the northern states aren't giving any. I just can't believe we could make an agreement like that," Titus said.
Arizona and California officials have not yet said if they plan to join the lawsuit.
Titus' full statement from Monday is as follows:
"Today's announcement that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) could cut Nevada's allocation of Colorado River water by 70 percent amounts to a death sentence for Southern Nevada. We could not survive a cut of that magnitude. The BOR misled us last week in saying our allocation would be cut by 17 percent over the next two years. They neglected to disclose that the Record of Decision they issued give the BOR the authority to reduce our allocation by up to 70 percent over the subsequent eight years. This is outrageous duplicity and I will make every effort to hold the responsible BOR officials accountable."
You can read the entire 31-page lawsuit here.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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