The prospect of a costly and prolonged interstate lawsuit over rights to the Colorado River looms now that the states using the water are blowing past a Valentine’s Day deadline with no water-sharing deal in hand. The dispute has largely hinged on whether states in the headwaters region would agree to mandatory cuts to their overall supply in especially dry years — a commitment they have so far rejected in part because they do not use their full allocation as the more developed Southwest does. … Nevada’s lead negotiator issued a statement on Feb. 13, a day before the target that most everyone involved knew they would miss, and decried the entrenched positions of states unwilling to bend.

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