Nevada state courts have long grappled with settling water conflicts and defining the terms upon which water is managed in the nation’s driest state. Who gets priority to water when there is a conflict or in times of scarcity? What is the public’s interest in water? What is the state’s responsibility in protecting water for the public alongside those with water rights? These are all questions the court has had to grapple with. … In January, the Supreme Court’s water commission began a three-year pilot program that requires district court judges, certified as specialty water law judges, to hear water cases.