EDITORIAL: Nevada draws short stick in federal water plan

Arizona and Nevada will feel the brunt of the pain under a federal plan to reduce stress on the Colorado River. It’s an unjust solution, particularly for the Silver State. Last week, the Interior Department released a 10-year blueprint to address water shortages on the Colorado. The river has been over-allocated for a century, and long-term drought has severely worsened the problem in recent decades. The seven basin states — Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in the upper basin and California, Arizona and Nevada in the lower basin — have been unable to reach a consensus, leading the feds to step in. The government’s strategy imposes no mandatory water cuts on the Upper Basin states, while accepting a deal that the Lower Basin states previously made to reduce usage by 3.2 million acre-f