نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
گروه علوم و مهندسی منابع آب، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد علوم و تحقیقات، تهران، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Sustainable management of water resources in arid and semi-arid regions has become a major challenge due to population growth, urbanization, industrial and agricultural expansion, climate change, and unsustainable groundwater abstraction. Alborz Province, with rapid population growth, concentration of economic activities, and heavy reliance on the Hashtgerd, Karaj, and Eshtehard aquifers, faces severe water stress. This study aimed to conduct an integrated assessment of water resource sustainability in Alborz Province. To this end, the Watershed Sustainability Index (WSI) and the Pressure–State–Response (PSR) framework were used, and four components—hydrology, environment, quality of life, and policy/governance—were analyzed simultaneously. Hydrological, climatic, socio-economic, land-use, and management data were collected from official sources, the Regional Water Company, statistical records, remote sensing, and policy documents. After normalizing the indicators to a 0–1 scale, the final WSI was calculated as the average of the four components and classified into five sustainability levels. The results showed that the hydrological and environmental dimensions contributed most to reduced sustainability; declining precipitation, rising temperatures, continuous groundwater level decline, reduced natural recharge, an increasing withdrawal-to-recharge ratio, water quality degradation, and weak environmental flows were the main factors. In contrast, the quality-of-life and policy dimensions performed relatively better, but institutional fragmentation, weak coordination, financial constraints, and the absence of an integrated data system reduced the effectiveness of management measures. The findings highlight the need for demand management, artificial aquifer recharge, wastewater reuse, improved water productivity, integrated governance, and smart monitoring. The combined WSI–PSR framework can serve as a practical model for assessing water resource sustainability in other river basins across the country.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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