Nevada lawmakers received a broad update on water management, wildfire preparation, conservation funding and possible changes to state water law during the fifth meeting of the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources held on June 24.
Much of the discussion focused on how state agencies plan to improve communication, reduce permitting delays and prepare for increasing pressure on Nevada’s limited water supplies.
Vinson Guthreau, the newly appointed director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, told lawmakers he is emphasizing public engagement, transparency and customer service across the department’s eight divisions and four standalone programs.
Guthreau said the department employs more than 1,000 full-time and seasonal workers statewide, but continues to struggle with recruiting and retaining engineers, hydrologists, biologists and other specialized employees.
He said the department must also respond to growing threats from catastrophic wildfire, invasive species and drought while managing increased demand created by population growth and new industries.
Guthreau pointed to wildfire-prevention work as one of the department’s recent successes. Through coordination with federal, tribal and local partners, Nevada agencies have treated more acres than have burned in four of the past five years. Since 2020 or 2021, shared stewardship projects have treated more than 538,000 acres, including about 344,000 acres during the past two years, he said.
The state has also helped secure more than $100 million in federal funding for landscape-scale wildfire mitigation projects covering approximately 3.5 million acres along the Sierra and Elko fronts.
State Engineer Joe Cacioppo told lawmakers the Division of Water Resources is working to modernize its records and permitting system.
The division is scanning more than 122,000 permits and 145,000 maps and is developing a permit-tracking system that will initially be used internally. Cacioppo said the system could eventually allow applicants to see where their water-right applications are in the review process.
The division receives about 1,000 water-right applications and 4,000 extension requests each year. He said that the average processing time for extensions from 136 days to about 78 days since January.
Cacioppo also addressed Nevada’s shift toward conjunctive management, which recognizes the connection between surface water and groundwater.
He said curtailment remains one of the state’s limited tools for addressing overuse, but he would prefer locally developed solutions that reduce water use before the state is forced to curtail existing rights.
“The last thing we want to do is curtail anybody,” he said, adding that communities often understand their water systems better than anyone and should help develop solutions.
Lawmakers also heard from the Nevada Association of Conservation Districts, which asked the Legislature to increase base funding for Nevada’s 28 conservation districts and support a statewide soil health program.
Executive Director Kevin Piper said each district currently receives about $5,500 annually from the state, provided it remains in good standing. Nevada has historically ranked near the bottom nationally in state funding for conservation districts.
The districts are local political subdivisions governed by volunteer boards. They work on wildfire recovery, watershed restoration, invasive weeds, irrigation efficiency, soil health, wildlife habitat and conservation education.
Piper said stronger and more predictable funding would allow districts to hire staff, pursue grants and expand on-the-ground projects. Many districts are operated almost entirely by volunteers, making it difficult to compete for federal and private funding.
The association also wants Nevada to revisit legislation to create a statewide soil health program. Seven other Western states have already adopted soil health laws, Piper said.
Groundwater-dependent ecosystems were another major topic.
Laurel Saito, Nevada water strategy director for The Nature Conservancy, said more than one-third of the groundwater wells examined in a recent analysis showed significant declines over several decades.
The group estimates that about 20% of Nevada’s 256 groundwater basins are pumped beyond their perennial yield and that at least 40% of several types of groundwater-dependent ecosystems face risks from overpumping.
Saito said Nevada needs policies that encourage reduced groundwater use, prevent unsustainable future withdrawals and consider water availability when approving major development projects such as mines, energy facilities and data centers.
She also pointed to the state’s voluntary groundwater-right retirement program. A pilot funded with $25 million in federal recovery money retired more than 20,000 acre-feet of groundwater rights, but demand exceeded the available funding.
A water-law stakeholder group presented eight possible concepts for an omnibus water bill in the 2027 legislative session.
The proposals include increasing the state’s bonding authority for water projects from $125 million to $200 million, creating a long-term funding source for voluntary water-right retirement, allowing agricultural land to retain favorable tax treatment after water rights are retired, and giving counties the option to create local groundwater boards.
The group is also considering changes to county participation in monitoring, management and mitigation plans, commonly called 3M plans, and greater transparency in the collection and use of groundwater basin assessment fees.
Jeff Fontaine, speaking for the stakeholder group, said members representing agriculture, cities, mining, rural communities and environmental interests have been working toward consensus while trying to avoid creating new costs for state agencies.
The committee ended with a briefing on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA, which narrowed the federal definition of wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act.
Presenters from the National Conference of State Legislatures, Tom Klein and Nicole Ezeh, said states are responding in different ways. Colorado and New Mexico have moved to create their own state permitting systems for wetlands and surface waters no longer covered by federal law, while North Carolina and Tennessee have aligned their regulations more closely with the narrower federal standard.
The committee’s final interim meeting is scheduled for Aug. 12.
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