A new North Carolina State University study shows that Indigenous groups in the western United States are \u2013 for various reasons \u2013 having difficulty turning water they have a legal right to, under water rights settlements, into actual water that can generate revenue through leases to other groups or through direct uses such as agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n
Western tribal water rights are a longstanding, yet underpublicized, component of a large and seemingly intractable problem: how to satisfy all water-rights holders when available water amounts are less than the paper water rights allotted. Drought and climate change threaten to exacerbate the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n
The study used extensive satellite data to examine the effects of water-rights settlements on tribal land and water use on reservations over nearly 40 years, from 1974 to 2012. The findings show that tribes are likely using only a fraction of their entitled water rights, foregoing hundreds of millions of dollars \u2013 and possibly more than $1 billion \u2013 in revenue annually. Lack of irrigation infrastructure and convoluted land ownership issues likely represent the major impediments to tribes, the paper suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to know: After tribes settle their water-rights claims, do they actually get control over the water?\u201d said Eric Edwards<\/a>, assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics<\/a> at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the research<\/a>. \u201cThat is, do tribes actually get \u2018wet\u2019 water, and can it either be used on the reservation or in their control as a lease to others? Or is it just \u2018paper\u2019 water that the tribe isn\u2019t able to use? Powerful interests in line for water behind tribes are likely already using the water. And tribes may not be able to divert the water for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n
Note to editors<\/strong>: An abstract of the paper follows.<\/p>\n\n\n
DOI<\/em>: 10.1086\/725400<\/p>\n\n\n
This post was originally published<\/a> in NC State News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"\n
\u201cWe wanted to know: After tribes settle their water-rights claims, do they actually get control over the water?\u201d said Eric Edwards<\/a>, assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics<\/a> at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the research<\/a>. \u201cThat is, do tribes actually get \u2018wet\u2019 water, and can it either be used on the reservation or in their control as a lease to others? Or is it just \u2018paper\u2019 water that the tribe isn\u2019t able to use? Powerful interests in line for water behind tribes are likely already using the water. And tribes may not be able to divert the water for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n
Note to editors<\/strong>: An abstract of the paper follows.<\/p>\n\n\n