In a nearly 500-page draft document last week, federal water officials offered a look at options they are considering for making necessary short-term cuts on the Colorado River.

A study published in June by economists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas found that the state’s pandemic-related stay-at-home order issued in March 2020 led to a significant increase in water usage in Henderson.

Nevada is among the states with the fewest protections preventing its citizens from losing access to electricity and water during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two separate reports analyzing state moratoriums on utility shut offs.

A District Court judge has once again scuttled the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s plans to obtain and pump rural groundwater about 300 miles from eastern Nevada, prompting one Clark County commissioner to call on the water authority "to look in a different direction.”

Reduced precipitation from climate change and disputes over Colorado River water rights loom over Nevada’s water supply, but the agency that oversees it says officials can manage the uncertainty with a boost from new conservation programs and legislative mandates. The SNWA's Joint Water Conservation Plan was approved by the board’s seven member agencies in December, after significant updates to the conservation formula and strategies.

The deal, which is up for approval at the water authority’s board meeting on Thursday, is worth $2.5 million with an automatic annual four percent increase that will see the annual payment top out at about $3.5 million by 2029.

Environmental groups are raising concerns over a provision in draft legislation they believe could exempt the Las Vegas pipeline — a proposal to pump eastern Nevada groundwater about 300 miles to Southern Nevada — from further litigation and federal environmental review. When asked whether the lands bill prevented further environmental or judicial review of the pipeline, a spokesman for the water authority pushed back.

A seemingly minor change in the legal definition of hydropower could have potentially significant implications by allowing entities, including NV Energy to leverage existing large hydropower facilities toward meeting the RPS, thereby giving them a leg up toward meeting an increased standard without requiring any new spending to expand renewable energy.