Abstract
The river Zayandeh Rud is the most important surface water in central Iran. The catchment area has been affected by two drought periods within the last 15 years. Decreasing surface and groundwater availability has been accompanied by an increase in water withdrawal for irrigation , domestic uses, industry, and water transfers to neighbouring provinces. This has led to severe ecological and social consequences. While the Iranian government is officially committed to the IWRM idea, water management decisions have still been based on supply-driven strategies, and supply and demand have mainly been balanced by water transfer projects. Existing simulation models have not been used for management decisions because their development lacked participatory elements and therefore they are considered as being biased. The aim of the project IWRM Isfahan was to develop a locally adapted IWRM process for the catchment area which integrates organisational, participative and technical measures. To this end, three different simulation models have been developed and merged into a Water Management Tool (WMT ). WMT serves as the main instrument for a better understanding of water management processes within the catchment area and it provides the authorities in charge with a decision support tool. In order to achieve ownership and acceptance of the results and recommendations, accompanying measures like reforms in water governance or the establishment of WMT commissions need to be realized. The first steps in this direction have already been taken applying participatory methods . Initial estimations show that the implemented measures as a whole carry the potential for successful conflict resolution.
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Notes
- 1.
The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle Farsi alone released nine articles in July 2013 with headlines like “Water shortage in Iran reaches critical levels”, “Water shortage and pollution from North to South” or “Save the Ourmiyeh Lake”.
- 2.
The centre is supposed to be one of 81 international and regional centers under the auspices of UNESCO. The costs are to be assumed by the Iranian government.
- 3.
For example a transfer from the Persian Gulf to the province Fars. See Tehran Times July 8th 2013.
- 4.
An ancient technology used to extract ground water.
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Mohajeri, S., Horlemann, L., Sklorz, S., Kaltofen, M., Ghanavizchian, S., Nuñez von Voigt, T. (2016). Integrated Water Resource Management in Isfahan: The Zayandeh Rud Catchment. In: Borchardt, D., Bogardi, J., Ibisch, R. (eds) Integrated Water Resources Management: Concept, Research and Implementation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25071-7_23
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