Articles
A Historical Investigation on Water Resources Management in Iran
Introduction
In Persian, water is one of the simplest words to learn and spell. It is written "Āb" and pronounced " bˈə " (in rhyme with "Up"). Despite the expression simplicity, it is one of the hardest to manage which has recently brought many problems to the Iranian people. Although, Iran has a long history in sustainable management and development of the water resources, the country is presently facing with major problems in the water sector. These problems are manifested by water shortages, water quality deterioration, groundwater over-abstraction, lake and rivers drying up, soil-water salinity, dust storming, agricultural losses and ecological degradation. Integrating such challenges to health, environmental, economic, political and social issues have greatly focused public attention on the water problems consequences. However, Iranian's water challenges will not be isolated and involve local, national and international dimensions. If these issues persist over time, the most obvious consequence seems to be the spread of problems to other countries.
In the Middle East, water plays an imperative role in improving the life quality and socioeconomic development (Priscoli 2000). Water is not only essential for life, but also for the civilization progress (CSAMES 2017). Iran (former name Persia until 1935), one of the oldest cradles of civilization in the world, has made tremendous efforts in the past few thousand years to meet a sustainable water resource management. Water delivery, water balance, water storage, water quality, water protection, water saving, waste water controlling, hazard mitigation and adaptation are among the most important challenges which Iranians have been faced. To overcome these challenges, Iranians have used their strategies at any given moment. However, experience has shown that only local strategies and outsider strategies selected based on perception and intelligence will be reliable.
The focus of this research is to investigate on water resources management, development and water-related challenges over time in Iran. This research answers how Iranian manage their water resources; where did they succeed and where did they fail; how and why Iranian water resources management is the way it is today; which water-related problems are intrinsic and which are anthropogenic. Such studies assist in knowing the events that took place and the decisions that made. However, although it is very difficult to predict the future, if the past be adequately recognized, the influence of our decisions to create a more sustainable and desirable future will be more clear (Costanzia et al. 2007).
Development and management of water resources in Iran have been studied by several scholars such as English (1968), Foltz (2002), Ardakanian (2003, 2004), Madani Larijani (2005), Semsar Yazdi & Askarzadeh (2007), Gholikandi et al. (2013), Madani et al. (2016), Zargan & Waez Mousavi (2016). Most of these researches are limited to describing the past or today's water-related problems. Nevertheless, the comprehensive study about Iran's water management needs an in-depth investigation from the past few thousand years until now. In this research, after collecting, sourcing, labeling and coding data and documents (both in Persian and English), a data bank is prepared and then, a historical study was carried out to assess the Iranians activities on planning, developing, distributing and managing water resources into three periods including the traditional, transitional and modern periods (Table 1). In the following, we focus on discussing these three phases in detail.
A Historical Investigation on Water Resources Management in Iran
In Persian, water is one of the simplest words to learn and spell. It is written "Āb" and pronounced " bˈə " (in rhyme with "Up"). Despite the expression simplicity, it is one of the hardest to manage which has recently brought many problems to the Iranian people. Although, Iran has a long history in sustainable management and development of the water resources, the country is presently facing with major problems in the water sector. These problems are manifested by water shortages, water quality deterioration, groundwater over-abstraction, lake and rivers drying up, soil-water salinity, dust storming, agricultural losses and ecological degradation. Integrating such challenges to health, environmental, economic, political and social issues have greatly focused public attention on the water problems consequences. However, Iranian's water challenges will not be isolated and involve local, national and international dimensions. If these issues persist over time, the most obvious consequence seems to be the spread of problems to other countries.
In the Middle East, water plays an imperative role in improving the life quality and socioeconomic development (Priscoli 2000). Water is not only essential for life, but also for the civilization progress (CSAMES 2017). Iran (former name Persia until 1935), one of the oldest cradles of civilization in the world, has made tremendous efforts in the past few thousand years to meet a sustainable water resource management. Water delivery, water balance, water storage, water quality, water protection, water saving, waste water controlling, hazard mitigation and adaptation are among the most important challenges which Iranians have been faced. To overcome these challenges, Iranians have used their strategies at any given moment. However, experience has shown that only local strategies and outsider strategies selected based on perception and intelligence will be reliable.
The focus of this research is to investigate on water resources management, development and water-related challenges over time in Iran. This research answers how Iranian manage their water resources; where did they succeed and where did they fail; how and why Iranian water resources management is the way it is today; which water-related problems are intrinsic and which are anthropogenic. Such studies assist in knowing the events that took place and the decisions that made. However, although it is very difficult to predict the future, if the past be adequately recognized, the influence of our decisions to create a more sustainable and desirable future will be more clear (Costanzia et al. 2007).
Development and management of water resources in Iran have been studied by several scholars such as English (1968), Foltz (2002), Ardakanian (2003, 2004), Madani Larijani (2005), Semsar Yazdi & Askarzadeh (2007), Gholikandi et al. (2013), Madani et al. (2016), Zargan & Waez Mousavi (2016). Most of these researches are limited to describing the past or today's water-related problems. Nevertheless, the comprehensive study about Iran's water management needs an in-depth investigation from the past few thousand years until now. In this research, after collecting, sourcing, labeling and coding data and documents (both in Persian and English), a data bank is prepared and then, a historical study was carried out to assess the Iranians activities on planning, developing, distributing and managing water resources into three periods including the traditional, transitional and modern periods (Table 1). In the following, we focus on discussing these three phases in detail.
A Historical Investigation on Water Resources Management in Iran
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WaterTuesday, December 30, 2025