How a Water War Is Brewing Over a Drying Lake in Nevada

A Nevada lawsuit trickling toward trial could determine how the nation's most arid state balances the legal rights of upstream landowners to divert water from rivers for agricultural irrigation with the impacts those withdrawals have on downstream ecologies and economies.

Water rights exceed water supply across much of the western United States. With many watersheds failing to deliver enough water for local needs, the suit is being watched by attorneys, state water managers, and federal agencies. It could potentially set a precedent in revising how states across the West regulate access to water.