The court ruled that the state can restrict new groundwater pumping if it will impact other users and wildlife, a decision environmentalists are calling a major win in updating the state’s water law.

By Wyatt Myskow

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week that the state can restrict new groundwater pumping if it will impact other users and wildlife, a decision that strikes a blow to the plan of a developer that at one time hoped to build a new city of 250,000 people in the Mojave Desert and could shift how groundwater is managed in the driest U.S. state.