Nevada water czar leaves key role

Adam Sullivan, Nevada’s state engineer and water chief, has abruptly left his position after more than four years in the role.

In his place, the acting administrator of the Nevada Division of Water Resources is now Chris Thorson, who was previously the division’s deputy administrator, spokesperson Jenny Jackson said on Friday.

“DCNR is very appreciative of Adam’s service and wishes him well in his future endeavors,” Jackson said in a statement, declining to provide a reason for the personnel shift. “The Department is now focused on strengthening Nevada’s water management and ensuring a smooth leadership transition.”

As the head water regulator for the driest state in the nation, Sullivan was tasked with managing the state’s 256 hydrographic basins, making tough decisions about how much and when water could be used. Then-Gov. Steve Sisolak appointed Sullivan to the post in July 2021.

The state engineer is a trusted voice for the Nevada Legislature, as well, weighing in on proposed bills that could change water law.

Sullivan declined to comment on his departure when reached on Friday.

A unique perspective

Sullivan is perhaps best known in the water world for the outcome of Sullivan v. Lincoln County Water District, a landmark water law case that went before the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court agreed last year that the state engineer correctly asserted his authority in limiting water for a development outside of Las Vegas — creating strong precedent for him to manage groundwater and surface water conjunctively as well as recognize the inherent connection between different basins in his decisions.

Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network that champions water security in rural Nevada and Utah, said that while he didn’t agree with all of Sullivan’s decisions, he appreciated Sullivan’s holistic outlook when it came to considering applications for water rights.

In Nevada, where people own more water rights on paper than the amount of water replenished each year in more than half of its basins, the state engineer’s decisions can either alleviate or add stress to strained systems.

Roerink pointed to Diamond Valley in Eureka County, the state’s only “critical management area” because of depleted groundwater, where more discretion from a state engineer could have avoided crisis.

“Any state engineer is going to have an expiration date and a lot of enemies,” Roerink said. “But Adam is a man who had integrity and his own vision, and he wasn’t going to let anybody else sway him on what he thought the hydrologic realities were in our world. It’s really something special.”

Another decision Sullivan made that garnered some headlines was when he sent a cease-and-desist letter this year to the Thacker Pass lithium mine near the Oregon border based on an ongoing legal battle between the company and a rancher over water.

A water dispute between two lithium mining companies in Esmeralda County also made it to the Supreme Court this year, where the Nevada attorney general’s office argued that Sullivan had acted appropriately in granting time extensions to Albemarle in lieu of approving new water rights applications for another mine.

“Now, we’re left waiting to see who comes in next,” Roerink said. “We can only hope that that person is not someone who will come into office with a rubber stamp for every application.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.