LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada's top water regulator has stepped down after eight years as state engineer, leaving several key court battles to his acting successor.
The Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources says Jason King retired Friday after 28 years as a state employee.
Department Deputy Administrator Tim Wilson has replaced King, at least temporarily.
King oversaw key water issues including an ongoing effort by southern Nevada water's main water agency to get approval to pump groundwater from arid valleys west of the Utah state line and pipe it to Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Wilson inherits court challenges to that plan, along with fights over a ban on new residential wells in Pahrump and a block on water development for the stalled Coyote Springs development on the Clark and Lincoln county line.