Investigation of Administrative-Institutional System of Water Management in the Zayandehrud Basin Using Qualitative Method of Grounded Theory

• Main Authors: Sajad Enteshari, Hamidreza Safavi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Water and Wastewater Consulting Engineers Research Development 2020-01-01
• Series: آب و فاضلاب
• Subjects: grounded theory; water resources management; zayandehrud river basin; administrative-institutional system
• Online Access: http://www.wwjournal.ir/article_92018_7c30a546882a36a322edbde33aadeda8.pdf

Increasing water demand in agricultural, urban and industrial sectors and decreasing water resources due to climate change caused serious restrictions in traditional manners of water management especially in arid and semi-arid regions including Central Plateau of Iran. In order to manage water resources effectively, it is essential to consider the socio-economic system and administrative-institutional system, in addition to the natural system. This study aims to investigate the administrative-institutional system of water management in Zayandehrud basin. Quantitative methods generally are used to study water resource systems, but these methods face some challenges such as: the lack of sufficient data, the weakness of the quantitative models in adapting to human systems, and the inability to provide a general picture of the problem; therefore, it’s essential to use of Qualitative methods along with quantitative methods for understanding these systems. The present study tries to understand the most important problems of the administrative-institution of water management system in the Zayandehrud basin using the grounded theory as a systematic qualitative method. The results of this study indicate that the incomplete and misleading information, different understanding of issues, ineffective meetings, conflict of interest, lack of coordination and conflict between organizations, corruptor structure, and weak regulatory system are the problems that caused the current administrative structuer is ineffective. The main causes of these problems are lack of transparency and non-participatory management. These factors, along with the lack of a deterrent mechanism, have led to excessive water allocation and unauthorized exploitation. According to recent 20-years data, the average annual renewable water including transferred water into the basin has been about 2500 MCM while the average annual water consumption has been about 2770 MCM and resulted in a cumulative decrease of 4900 MCM non-renewable water storage. In this paper, only quantitative method of the grounded theory is considered and it is necessary to use a quantitative method in the future to accurately assess the importance of the factors driving the instability of water resources in the Zayandehrud river basin.