Suggested solutions for sustainable management of groundwater at the national level

Document Type : Research paper

Authors

1 PhD in Hydrogeology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/hydro.2024.55544.1284

Abstract

Groundwater is a vital resource for meeting water needs. In recent years with the increase in population growth and water demand, climate change and relating droughts, led to indiscriminate extraction of groundwater and decrease in quantity and quality of this precious resource in the global level. With growing perception of the interdependence of water and development, sustainable groundwater management at national level is necessary to deal with threats such as shortage of water, food, energy, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity and most importantly the reduction of human security. So, regarding water crisis in the country, in this research proposed solutions are presented to improve current managing status in the country by modelling and utilizing successful experience of pioneered countries in the field of groundwater sustainable management like India and USA (Arizona and California) since they have critical groundwater situation similar to Iran. Therefore, in order to sustainably manage underground water, it is necessary to understand the issues and problems created in this field and this will be achieved by drawing the intertwining cycle of the dynamic and complex underground water system as a collaborative approach among operators, managers, specialists and technical experts, legislators, policy makers and local people. Such recognition requires network thinking and considering all the relationships within the components of water subsystems (natural, technical, socio-cultural, economic and legal) and it also needs sharing transparent and reliable data with activists, capacity building, creating a platform for more cooperation of the relevant institutions, making laws, taking actions and implementation by the involved organizations.

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Main Subjects


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