LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The state of Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority have sued the federal government, contending that its water plan announced Friday violates the law and fails to account for the impact on Nevada.
WATCH | Steve Sebelius heard from the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority on the decision to sue:
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada, objects to the potential cut of more than 213,000 acre-feet of water per year for Nevada, which already gets just 300,000 acre-feet of river water per year, or 3.3% of all water allocated to lower-basin states: California, Arizona and Nevada.
An acre-foot is enough to serve two single-family homes for a year, about 325,851 gallons.
"The magnitude of such shortages will cause acute environmental, socioeconomic, and health and human safety impacts to southern Nevada," the lawsuit reads. "Federal Defendants failed to consider such impacts in any meaningful way in the Final [Colorado River environmental impact statement]."
Gov. Joe Lombardo in a news release announcing the lawsuit said the distribution of cuts to the lower-basin states was unfair.
"Under the proposed plan issued by the Department of the Interior, southern Nevada could lose more than 70 percent of its already meager Colorado River allocation while the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming are not required to contribute a drop," he said. "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."
Rep. Dina Titus put it even more starkly: "Today’s announcement that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation could cut Nevada’s allocation of Colorado River water by 70 percent amounts to a death sentence for Southern Nevada," she said in a statement. "We could not survive a cut of that magnitude. The [Bureau of Reclamation] 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 gives the [Bureau] 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 [Bureau] officials accountable."
Nevada has negotiated with other states that share the Colorado River for years, working to establish an agreed-upon plan to deal with a drought now nearly three decades old. Those efforts failed, even with federal deadlines imposed.
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As a result, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued an environmental impact report and new procedures for river operations. While cuts during the next two years are modest, cuts starting in 2029 could be much more severe, according to John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
"There's no hyperbole necessary," he told Channel 13 on Monday. "We're talking about 90% of the water supply for 76% of the state's population. We've negotiated in good faith. We've put proposal after proposal on the table to the federal government and other states and at the end of the day, the federal government came out with a plan that could cut us by 71%, which is totally unacceptable."
The Bureau of Reclamation did not return an email seeking comment on Monday.
Ironically, Nevada has led all Colorado River states with its conservation measures, including recycling nearly all water used indoors; replacing non-functional turf; offering rebates for people to remove natural grass; establishing strict watering schedules that vary by season; and imposing an excessive-use charge on big water users.
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Not only that, but the volume at issue in Nevada is tiny, Entsminger said.
"The amount of water they're trying to squeeze out of Nevada, if you look at federal modeling, it's almost a rounding error. They're not solving climate change and drought and long-term aridification on the backs of 1.8% of the water users," he said.
Entsminger and other negotiators have long said they want to reach a consensus, even as some states — most notably Arizona — prepared for litigation. Lawsuits are unpredictable and can take a long time to resolve, they said.
But on Monday, Entsminger said the state simply had no options left when handed the federal government's final decision on the matter.
"This isn't something we did lightly. We are not naturally litigious people," he said. "We weren't looking for a fight, but when the federal government says they can cut your water supply by 71%, that's time to stop talking and start fighting. And that's the corner they forced us into."
The case is State of Nevada, et. al. v. Doug Burgum, et, al. (No. 2-26-cv-02665).
