Nevada Sues Interior Department Over Colorado River Plan 

The State of Nevada, joined by the Colorado River Commission of Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Record of Decision on post-2026 Colorado River operations, arguing the plan unfairly imposes devastating cuts on Lower Basin states while sparing the Upper Basin any mandatory reductions.

Governor Joe Lombardo framed the action as essential for the survival of southern Nevada. “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,” Lombardo 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.”

The Record of Decision, released Friday, August 21, follows the Interior Department’s Final Environmental Impact Statement and sets a 10-year Decision Framework for coordinated operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, with specific Operating Guidelines for 2027 and 2028. Under the plan, Nevada, California, and Arizona face potentially severe cuts to their annual Colorado River allocations. 

Nevada’s 300,000-acre-foot entitlement could be reduced by as much as 213,556 acre-feet, leaving Las Vegas and surrounding cities with less than 86,500 acre-feet per year. For context, the community used slightly less than 212,500 acre-feet in 2024.

SNWA General Manager John Entsminger called the deeper reductions entirely unrealistic. “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. “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 lawsuit asks the court to set aside the Record of Decision and block implementation until legal and technical deficiencies are fixed. Nevada argues that while the Final EIS quantified potential economic losses for agriculture and river-based recreation, it failed to analyze the impacts of severe curtailments on southern Nevada’s $180 billion economy—despite a legal requirement to address those effects and despite comments Nevada submitted during the process.

Lombardo emphasized shared responsibility across the basin. “The Department of the Interior can’t roll Nevada and solve the entire Colorado River shortage on the backs of the Lower Basin states,” he said. “We’ve already shown that we’re willing to do our part, but the Colorado River is a shared resource, so the solution needs to involve everybody. Until that happens, we are prepared to fight for as long as it takes.”

The complaint notes that despite years of negotiations, Upper Basin states have refused tangible mandatory reductions, instead pursuing what Nevada describes as a legally dubious reinterpretation of the 1922 Colorado River Compact that would preserve their full rights while shifting all shortages onto the Lower Basin.