Nevada Warns 64% Colorado River Cut Could Trigger Supreme Court Fight

3 articles · Updated · Las Vegas Review-Journal · Aug 21

A 64% reduction in Nevada’s Colorado River allocation is the scenario state water managers say the federal plan could impose, prompting an Aug. 12 letter urging the Trump administration to revise its preferred operating framework.
Clark County gets about 90% of its water from the river, and officials said any cut above 102,000 acre-feet would exceed Nevada’s net use after recycling credits, which totaled 198,000 acre-feet last year.
The preferred 10-year plan would impose major Lower Basin cuts while requiring no mandatory reductions from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming or New Mexico, instead relying on 200,000 acre-feet of voluntary Upper Basin savings and reviews every two years.
Arizona and the Colorado River Indian Tribes have lodged similar objections—Arizona says the framework could bring catastrophic cuts, while the tribes say 30 basin tribes were excluded and their 720,000 acre-feet of rights are being mishandled.
Those converging challenges are raising the odds of a U.S. Supreme Court battle over the dwindling river, a path Nevada says it is prepared for even as experts warn it could cost millions and prolong uncertainty.