LAS VEGAS » Southern Nevada Water Authority officials are expected to challenge a judge's decision that the state's top water official was wrong to approve a plan to pump groundwater from eastern Nevada to Las Vegas.

Senior Judge Norman Robison of Gardnerville issued the strongly worded order last week.

Authority spokesman Scott Huntley described it as biased and "flat-out wrong."

Robison says State Engineer Tracy Taylor abused his discretion and acted "arbitrarily, capriciously and oppressively" in granting permission in 2008 for Las Vegas to tap underground water in three valleys in central Lincoln County for a massive pipeline project.

The judge says the state's chief water regulator was "simply hoping for the best while committing to undo his decision if the worst occurs."