Indigenous groups in the U.S. West are facing difficulties transforming water that belongs to them on paper into water they can actually use, a new study has found. Tribal nations are likely using only a fraction of their entitled water rights — thereby foregoing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually, according to the study, published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Factors such as insufficient irrigation infrastructure and land ownership issues are complicating the quest to capitalize on the water that is rightfully theirs, the researchers determined. … Researchers said they remained hopeful about future prospects for tribal water rights holders — who could play a critical role in quenching the thirst of an increasingly parched Southwest.”