Nevada preached peace on the Colorado River. Now it’s suing to protect its water.

Nevada filed the first lawsuit against the federal government's new Colorado River management plan, surprising experts who expected Arizona to sue first given its larger immediate cuts. The state argues the plan could allow cuts up to 71% of the Las Vegas area's water supply in a worst-case scenario, a risk it calls unacceptable and illegally imposed.

The lawsuit follows over two years of failed negotiations among seven basin states before current river management rules expire in October, forcing the Interior Department to impose its own plan relying on cuts to lower basin states. Nevada claims the government's process, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, failed to weigh economic impacts on Las Vegas or consider alternatives like restructuring Glen Canyon Dam.

Unlike other states, Nevada sends its river water almost entirely to urban areas, meaning cuts fall directly on Las Vegas rather than being absorbed by agricultural fallowing elsewhere. State negotiator John Entsminger has repeatedly called cooperation his 'first, second, and third choice,' a claim now filed alongside a federal lawsuit.

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