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Introduction Water resources are the common aspect of the goals and challenges of sustainable development, the lack of which is one of the big multidimensional problems of the current century and is one of the main reasons for positive and negative developments in the world. Therefore, the water poverty index (WPI) is one of the indices defined for this purpose. This index shows the effect of the combination of effective factors on the scarcity and stress of water resources. It provides the conditions for prioritizing and developing management versions in different regions. To determine water scarcity and poverty in each region, attention should be paid to the conditions of water resources in the studied region, the ability to calculate the index and the existence of information and data in the studied region, as well as the selection of selected criteria and components in that region. In this study, the water poverty index is used to investigate the shortage and tension of water resources and for its influence on drought, its relationship with univariate drought indices based on precipitation including standardized precipitation index (SPI) and Z score index (ZSI), and variable indices based on precipitation and evapotranspiration including standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and reconnaissance drought index (RDI) were searched. Materials and Methods The study area in this research is the Hashem-Abad meteorological station in Gorgan Township, and the statistical period for calculating the water poverty index based on the data available in the study area was considered to be 13 years (2003-2015). The water poverty index in this research is calculated based on five main components, which include the resource (groundwater loss), meteorological (temperature and precipitation), consumption (water need), capacity (river discharge), and environmental (salinity). Each of the components must be weighed after calculating to calculate the water poverty index. For this purpose, the AHP hierarchical technique was used. First, a questionnaire was prepared and the components were scored based on the opinion of regional water experts and university professors, then, using Expert Choice software, the weight of the main components of the water poverty index was determined, and finally, the WPI for the study area in this research was also estimated. Then, in the next step, drought indices SPI, SPEI, RDI, and ZSI were calculated in 6-month and 12-month time windows. To calculate the drought indices, the precipitation and temperature data at the Hashem-Abad meteorological station for a period of 30 years (1990-2019) were considered, which were sorted monthly and the coding necessary to calculate the SPI and SPEI indices in time windows 6 and 12 months was done by R programming and statistical software. Also, two indicators, RDI and ZSI, were calculated in the Excel software. Finally, the relationship between drought indices and the water poverty index was searched based on simple one-to-multivariate correlations. Results and Discussion The results of the water poverty index’s components showed that the resources and environment component had the highest value in 2009 and 2010 and the lowest value in 2010 and 2016, respectively. About meteorological, capacity, and consumption components, the highest values were in the years 2010, 2004, and 2009, respectively, and the lowest values occurred in the years 2010, 2016, and 2016, respectively. Questionnaire analysis of WPI components with AHP showed that resources and environment components had the highest and lowest weights with values of 0.354 and 0.041, respectively. However, by multiplying these weights by their related components, it was found that the components of consumption, environment, resources, meteorology, and capacity had the greatest effect in calculating the water poverty index. The range of WPI changes during the years (2004-2016) varies from 26 to 82, so 2014, which is one of the driest years, the region was in the poorest state of water resources and the year 2008 had the best conditions. Considering the average WPI of about 55, out of the 13 years studied, the WPI was lower than the average in 8 years. In the next step, due to the lack of data, there was no possibility of non-linear modeling, therefore, simple one-to-multivariate correlations were used. The results of these correlations showed that the use of the multivariate linear regression method by considering the drought index in a 12-month time window along with two six-month time windows related to the first and second half of the year increases their correlation with the water poverty index. Examining the effect of the time window considered for the drought index on the water poverty index shows that the 12-month time window has a higher correlation than the sixmonth time window. Also, among the six-month time windows, in the SPEI index, the first six months of the year, which includes the spring and summer seasons, had a higher correlation with the water poverty index. Correlation results between drought indices and WPI showed that the annual time interval is more suitable than the 6-month time one. And among the 4 indices studied, the SPEI index with R2=0.90 had the highest correlation while the ZSI index with R2=0.81 had the lowest correlation with WPI. Conclusion Based on the results of the components of the water poverty index in this research, it was observed that the consumption component in the Gorgan region had the biggest role in the WPI estimation, so water conservation can have a great contribution to solving water poverty. Due to the high volume of water consumption in the agricultural sector, some measures should be taken to manage water consumption and choose the appropriate cultivation patterns. The high correlation of WPI with drought indices, especially the SPEI variable index, makes the importance of creating a drought monitoring and forecasting system more tangible, and due to global warming and climate change in the future, which this region is not exempt from, it can make the problems of water poverty and lack of water more severe in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing demand for limited resources, especially water resources, is one of the most fundamental problems of the agricultural sector. The excessive extraction of water resources, especially underground water resources, has caused the level of underground water resources to decrease. In this regard, planning for the optimal use of these limited resources, taking into account the conflicting goals of increasing profit, increasing performance, and environmental goals, including reducing the consumption of water, fertilizers, and chemical poisons seems necessary. It should be noted that decision-making in such conditions is associated with many complications. The present study aims at optimizing the production of agricultural products by simultaneously considering the goals of profit maximization, yield increase, and minimization of water, fertilizer, and chemical pesticide consumption by using the fuzzy goal programming in the Sanheh Plain for 7 products including wheat, sugar beet, alfalfa, coriander, sunflower, grain corn, and rice. Exploitation of deep and semi-deep wells of this plain was selected as the statistical population of the study. The results show that in the optimal model in the final scenario, in addition to the fact that the cultivated area is in a good condition and less than the existing condition, the economic benefit environmental goals and increased yield have also been provided. As a result, it is suggested that to obtain better results in the studied society, the current situation should be gradually improved and the model should be updated to ensure the expected results according to the existing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionRapeseed is the second most important plant for oil production in the country due to having more than 40% of oil in the seed, resistance to some environmental stresses, and suitable combination of fatty acids. Water deficit in the stage of reproductive growth severely affects the rapeseed yield because the number of seeds and the weight of seeds decrease. Water shortage in the flowering stage also reduces the seed oil percentage and oil yield of rapeseed. In some areas of Khuzestan province, rapeseed is mainly cultivated as a beak crop. This issue causes the growth period of rapeseed to coincide with the growth of some other crops. In this situation, some irrigation turns are necessarily allocated to other plants (including wheat, which is in the pollination stage, and okra, which is in the germination stage), which causes rapeseed to face water shortage, even in the flowering stage. Therefore, it is necessary to apply appropriate management methods to reduce the effects of drought stress on rapeseed during the flowering stage. Among these methods is the use of vermicompost fertilizer and changing the planting date. The present study aimed to address the following inquiries: What impact does vermicompost fertilizer, planting date, and drought stress during the flowering stage have on rapeseed seed and oil production? Can the utilization of vermicompost fertilizer and adjustments to planting dates mitigate the adverse effects of water deficit stress on rapeseed yield?Materials and MethodsA field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Shadegan Payam Noor University, Khuzestan, Iran in 2022-23 growing season. The experiment was carried out as a three-factor factorial 2x3x2 with three repetitions. The experimental factors included planting date (November 25 and December 25), vermicompost fertilizer (0.0, 10, and 20 ton ha-1), and irrigation (full irrigation and interruption of irrigation during the flowering stage). In each irrigation stage, the volume of irrigation water was measured and to calculate the efficiency of water consumption, the yield (seed and oil) was divided by the amount of evapotranspiration. At the maturity stage, the seed yield and its related traits included the number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod, the weight of 1000 seeds, biological yield, harvest index, oil and protein percentage of seed were calculated.Results and DiscussionRapeseed had the highest seed yield (2667 kg ha-1) on the planting date of November 25 with full irrigation, while delay in planting (planting date of November 25) and interruption of irrigation during the flowering stage resulted in the lowest seed yield (1247 kg ha-1) which means a decrease of more than 50% in seed yield. However, if rapeseed is planted on December 25 and fully irrigated, it has a higher seed yield (about 15%) than planting on November 25, along with stopping irrigation during the flowering stage. A similar trend was observed in seed oil percentage and oil yield, so the highest and lowest percentage and yield of rapeseed oil were obtained on the planting date of November 25 with full irrigation and the planting date of December 25 and stopping irrigation at the flowering stage, respectively. The delay in planting and drought stress in the flowering stage reduced the percentage of rapeseed oil by 6% and the yield of oil by about 60%. On the planting date of November 25, rapeseed was superior to the planting date of December 25 in terms of the number of seeds, 1000-seed weight, biological yield, and water efficiency by 35, 25, 23, 18, and 38%, respectively. ConclusionVermicompost fertilizer helped to improve rapeseed seed yield by providing important nutrients. Stopping irrigation during the flowering stage and delaying planting caused a decrease in seed yield and rapeseed oil production. Therefore, to obtain the maximum yield of seed and oil, it is recommended to plant on the 25th of November and full irrigation. It is better to modify the planting pattern in the region to prevent the flowering stages of rapeseed from encountering water shortage.

The improvement of water consumption efficiency is very significant, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this research, the effects of three hydrogel rates (0, 10, and 50 Mg ha-1 ) and three irrigation regimes (50%, 70%, and 100% of water requirement) on growth, yield, and oil production of Thymus daenensis were studied in a lysimetric experiment. The process of hydrogel synthesis was performed with sodium alginate as the main bone of the polymer and acrylic acid and acrylamide as monomers with the rapeseed meal biochar was made at 300 ºC. The results showed that the essential oil content produced by the plant was impressed by the hydrogel application. The essential oil content increased with an increase in water deficit, but the essential oil yield decreased in the lysimeters with water deficit compared to the ones without water stress. Besides, the application of 50 Mg ha-1 hydrogel caused a 17% increase in the dry matter and a 12% increase in the plant's height. According to the results of this experiment, the application of hydrogel caused the improvement in most characteristics of the Thymus daenensis in water stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After soybean and oil palm, rapeseed has the third place in supplying vegetable oil in the world, so that it accounts for 14.7% of the total production of vegetable oil. The current research was carried out using modeling approach in order to simulate the replacement of wheat cultivation with rapeseed cultivation in terms of water and economic productivity in four locations (Aleshtar, Khorramabad, Pol-e Dokhtar, and Kuhdasht) in Lorestan province. APSIM model was used to simulate the growth and yield of wheat and rapeseed crops. The model validation results showed that it accurately simulates wheat and rapeseed grain yield with nRMSE of 8.6%. The results showed that wheat cultivation (3524.4 kg) had a higher grain yield than rapeseed cultivation (2750.2 kg). In addition, wheat cultivation system (1.45 kg m-3) compared with rapeseed cultivation (1.15 kg m-3) had higher water productivity. However, the difference between these two cultivation systems in terms of irrigation productivity was not considerable (0.11 kg m³). Also, economic productivity and net income of rapeseed cultivation system were 0.220 million tomans per cubic meter and 59.9 million tomans per hectare, respectively, while they were 0.014 million tomans per cubic meter and 41.1 million tomans per hectare, respectively, for wheat cultivation system. In general, the results approved that moving from wheat cultivation to rapeseed cultivation can be environmentally and economically sustainable in the agro-ecosystems of Lorestan province, especially in Khorramabad county. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the lifestyle of city residents is conditional on benefiting from high-quality urban infrastructure to satisfy daily demands. The urban water supply network is one of the most basic urban infrastructures, and its optimal design and service are essential during the planning period. Therefore, it is important to determine the actual amount of consumption and predict it for the future. For this purpose, in this research, a method based on artificial intelligence, i.e., genetic programming (GP), as well as Pearson's correlation coefficient data mining method, is proposed. The data mining method is applied here for the database, including daily data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, and the amount of daily water produced in Najafabad city (presenting the total water consumption) from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2018, and the best set of input data vectors is selected. The selected data are used as input data vectors for the proposed. The obtained results are compared with the results of models based on artificial neural network (ANN). To investigate the performance of the models, R², RMSE, and NSE statistical indices are calculated. A comparison of the results indicates the acceptable performance of the proposed models based on the GP. In other words, the values of RMSE, NSE, R², and MAPE statistical indices for training data in the best GP model are equal to 3262.59 MCM, 0.80, 0.80, and 5.38%, respectively, and for test data equal to 3507.68 MCM, 0.78, 0.78, and 6.67%.

Lack of water resources is a word we are facing as we enter the 21st century. Iran, especially Bushehr province, faces hydropolitical challenges for various reasons, including population growth, industrialization process, lack of rain, consecutive droughts, and excessive withdrawal from water sources. The current research aims to explain and evaluate the hydropolitical challenges of Bushehr province and their impact on the economic security of the province. The research method is applied in terms of purpose, exploratory in terms of nature, and data; in this way, the qualitative data of the research was collected through the analysis of texts and referring to experts by means of a semi-structured interview tool. In the quantitative phase of the research, data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire with the help of 165 water basin experts and a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The analysis of this research has been done in two parts as qualitative and quantitative; in the qualitative part, analyzing the themes through theoretical coding in three stages of open, central and selective coding. In the quantitative section, using SPSS and Smart-PLS software, data analysis has been done in two descriptive and inferential sections. The research results show that two types of extra-provincial and intraprovincial hydropolitical challenges on the province's economic security can be explained. According to the findings obtained from the evaluation of the research model, the research's general hypothesis that Bushehr's hydropolitical challenges affect the province's economic security has been confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is an important element for protecting the ecosystem. Recently, the awareness of the value of this resource has been lost, which requires scientific action to encourage the emergence of attitude towards water. Tourism gives great potential to water resources because it facilitates the development of such attractive resources. The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of optimizing water consumption on the development of sustainable tourism. Research method in terms of applied nature; And in terms of implementation method, it was descriptiveـcorrelational. The statistical population of the present study included 80 managers of fiveـ star and fourـ star hotels in the southern regions of Iran (Kish, Qeshm and Bandarabbas). Due to the limited number of the statistical population, they were selected using the census of all the members of the statistical population. The research tools were aesthetic and temporal water consumption optimization questionnaire (2014), Cottrell et al.'s sustainable tourism development questionnaire (2013), and Khan et al.'s environmental awareness questionnaire (2022). The face and content validity of the questionnaire has been confirmed by organizational experts and the reliability of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha was more than 0.7. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with partial least square (PLS) approach in Smart PLS software was used for data analysis. The findings showed that the optimization of water consumption has a significant effect on the development of sustainable tourism and its components (environmental dimension, economic dimension, socioـ cultural dimension and organizational dimension) (P<0.05). Also, optimizing water consumption has a significant effect on environmental awareness (P<0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Paper industry in addition to reducing the consumption of various resources such as water, energy, and wood, continues to recycle used paper in different countries due to less pollution. One of the major drawbacks of the old corrugated container (OCC) recycling is its relatively weak strength, which has limited its use in various sections of the packaging industry. In this study, the effect of using some additives to improve the strengths of OCC to make the top liner of cartons in both wet and dry conditions was studied. Methodology: OCC was selected from domestically produced cartons. To determine the performance and optimal amount of additives, corn cationic starch (at 1, 1.4 and, 2%), wet strength resin (at 1, 2 and, 3%), AKD (at 1, 2 and, 3%), and long fiber of imported bulk tea wrapping paper (at 10, 15 and, 20%) based on the dry weight of OCC pulp were separately used as additives. The handsheets were made using laboratory sheet former with the basis weight of 120 g/m² and then tensile, burst, and tear indices were measured both at wet and dry conditions to compare the effect of additives. Also, water absorption was measured by the Cobb test on the test samples. The optimal level of each additive was determined based on the results, and then handsheets data from optimal combination treatment including appropriate levels of all additives, and different properties of handsheets were statistically compared. Results: The water absorption of handsheet was statistically decreased to 90% level compared to the control by adding AKD. This additive was able to reduce the water absorption of handsheet made from OCC to about 20 g/m² as the appropriate range. The greatest increase of wet tensile strength of the handsheet was achieved using 3% wet strength resin compared to the control. The resin maintained the wet tensile, burst, and tear indices of the residual strength of handsheet by 25, 46, and 58%, respectively, compared to dry strengths which indicates its good performance. The results showed that by adding cationic corn starch and recycled long fiber paper, all the dry strengths of handsheet independently increased compared to the control. The optimal combination treatment was determined according to the results independent use of additives in OCC pulp, including 1% cationic starch, 1% AKD, and 3% wet strength resin based on technical-economic considerations. There is no significant difference between dry tensile and burst strength of handsheet using this treatment and 20% recycled long fiber of wrapping paper, which both means ranked statistically in the same group. Conclusion: The use of 20% recycled long fiber of wrapping paper significantly improved the dry strength of OCC pulp, but adding 1% cationic corn starch to OCC pulp caused limit increase in dry strength. The wet strength of handsheet was significantly improved by adding 3% wet strength resin whereas 1% AKD significantly decreased the water absorption of the OCC pulp to 14 g/m². The optimal combination treatment of chemical additives including 1% cationic corn starch, 1% AKD, and 3% wet strength resin improved the wet and dry strength of handsheet made from OCC pulp that could be used for packaging products which need to be kept in refrigerator and freezer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In arid and semi-arid regions, water is considered as the most important restrictive factor in drinking, industry and agriculture. In this regard, Zayandehroud River is a prominent example of human and environmental concerns in this climate. Due to the large area of the Zayandeh Roud Watershed and the difficulty of developing and implementing a comprehensive participatory management model for the entire watershed, one of the upstream sub-watersheds of the Zayandeh roud Dam was selected for this study based on the Eskandri subwatershed. This sub-watershed is important because its outlet leads to Zayandeh roud Dam. In addition, this subwatershed is one of the most important sources of agricultural water supply, drinkable water, and industry in the region and province of Isfahan. Therefore, this study aims to present management responses regarding the strategy of improving the water resources status of the Eskandari sub-watershed with a logical framework approach. Materials and methods: First, the water resources status of the Eskandari sub-watershed was investigated using the Falkenmark index (FI). This index classifies the regions according to the annual renewable per capita volume (RW) for the provision of water resources. Based on the annual renewable per capita volume per person (m3/person), the FI is asfollows: no stress (FI<1700), stress (1000-1700), water low water (500-1000) and absolute deficiency (FI>500). In the following, in order to achieve the goals of integrated watershed management, the logical framework approach was used. Therefore, by identifying the stakeholders and organization of workshops, a problem tree and objectives for the desired strategy was drawn and a logical framework matrix was prepared based on the tree of objectives. In this research, 30 members from stakeholders (random sampling method) were selected as the sample for the resident questionnaire. In other words, the main, sub-goals, achievements, and activities in order to solve the stated problem were extracted from the objectives tree and classified in the framework of the logical framework matrix. Also, the opinion of 28 experts was also considered as a large group decision-making to prioritize items. The expert group consisted of experts from the Departments of Natural Resources and Watershed Management, Environment, Regional Water, and also scientific members of universities of Yazd and Esfahan, and some members of the village council. In the following, for the assessment, prioritization, and feasibility of doing any management response, first, the criteria and indicators for measuring different responses related to the status of the water resources of the Eskandari sub-watershed were determined. Then, the prioritization and selection of responses were done using the questionnaire method and the Friedman's test. Results and Discussion: The results of the research showed that the amount of renewable water per person is 637.60 m3. According to the classification provided by Falkenmark, this shows that the Eskandari sub-watershed is in the low water category. In the following, the results of the logical framework showed that the response of the development of optimal allocation plans for water consumption and regulation of water rights has been assigned the highest score according to the indicators and criteria considered. The responses to the strengthening of supervisory and executive mechanisms and modification of laws and regulations for issuance of exploitation licenses and also, preparation and compilation of integrated water resources management plan were the next priorities in terms of status improvement, respectively. In addition, the results of the significance test indicate a significant effect of managerial responses at five percent 0.05 (P=0.00). Conclusion: This study aimed to provide optimal management responses regarding the strategy of improving the status of water resources based on the expectations and perceptions of the stakeholders. Therefore, due to the ineffectiveness of the solutions in recent years, the implementation of the integrated management program of the Eskandari sub-watershed through the logical framework approach and the participation of all stakeholders is suggested in order for the principled and sustainable exploitation of water resources. Also, reinforcement of regulatory laws is recommended in order to observe water rights and access more equity in exploitation. In addition, in order to reduce water scarcity and improve the condition of watershed, the policies of the water sector should be enforced in a larger framework and with internal and external cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Locating and building small water projects in hot and dry areas of the country that are facing water shortage is of great importance. These projects are more popular among farmers than other water supply and storage projects due to simple construction technology, low study and implementation costs, public participation, simple operation and maintenance, and environmental effects. The use of new sciences, especially Remote Sensing techniques (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) helps planners to locate water supply and storage projects. Various studies have been conducted in the world in relation to location, analysis of factors affecting the location of water storage and supply plans using different criteria and using RS and GIS techniques. The aim of the present study is to identify and introduce water areas with the potential to create small water supply projects in the southeast of Bushehr province. Materials and methods: This research was conducted in Dayyer City in the southeast of Bushehr Province with an area of 2306 Km2 and a mean rainfall of 215 mm. In order to achieve the goal, first, nine flood-producing criteria including the slope, aspect of slope, river density, height, rainfall, runoff, distance from the river, land use and geological formations were considered. Then, using AHP method and weighting and prioritization of effective parameters and taking into account other environmental conditions and the overlap of maps, the final flood map of the city was prepared and classified. After calculating and estimating the degrees of importance, ArcGIS was used as a decision support system for future calculations. Also, Google earth and Arc Scene software have been used for better analysis and better understanding of the results in preparing the 3D space of the study area. After preparing the maps of the distribution and location of the wells and waterways network, the opinions of the relevant experts were also used. Also, other factors such as downstream land use, topography and access roads, drinking water consumption, livestock drinking consumption, the widest points in terms of the storage resource level and the ease of implementation of the structure were also considered as quality and management criteria. Results and Discussion: The results showed that the region can be divided into five regions with very low, low, medium, high and very high in terms of flood vulnerability risk. Also, the results of flood zoning showed that the extension of the northern and northeastern elevations to the east of Dayyer City and the middle elevations of the city and its center have high flood potential. According to the area of the study area, 25.2% are in the high vulnerability class and 11.5% in the very high vulnerability class. In addition, the results showed that 25 places in the region are suitable for creating small water supply projects, which, if implemented, can be effective in collecting and supplying water and increasing the profitability of the region in addition to controlling seasonal floods. Conclusion: Based on the results of this research, it is concluded that more than one third of the region (36.7%) has a high to very high risk of flooding, so these areas should be the focus of urban management planning. Also, 25 places in the region were suitable for creating small water supply projects, which need to be considered by regional managers and planners to reduce the effects of water shortage of the region. In addition, this research showed the good performance of GIS and AHP method in flood risk zoning and locating of small water supply projects in Dayyer City. Another noticeable point is that there are about 4217 hectares of land under dry wheat cultivation in the 23 proposed points of downstream, and currently the harvest of rainfed wheat is 1.3 tons per hectare on average. If appropriate water supply plans are implemented, the total harvest amount can reach about 16,000 tons per year. Therefore, making suitable water supply plans can result in an increase in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to developing abstractions and their impacts on surface runoff, the recorded flow has been changed by human activities in most water gauging stations. Therefore, there is not found natural regime in the catchments. Accordingly, the objective of naturalization is to remove the effect of human activity factors and determine the actual amount of the river flow before the abstraction and the upstream development. Researchers have presented different methods that are mainly based on volume budget. In this way, this research presented the conventional methods as well as investigated their weak points. These new and innovative methods have been applied based on the available data. The methods have been planned based on the net consumption in which, the different types of water demands related to the upstream of each hydrometric station, are estimated for each month of a long-term series. Then, the amount of natural flow is determined by adding them to the observed flow. The accuracy and validation of the results are investigated by comparing the observed and calculated flow. As a case study, this method was utilized and implemented for Tireh and Marbareh sub-basins in Dez as well as Solgan and Beheshtabad sub-basins in the Karun basin. The results showed the role of the human activity factors decreasing the long-term outflow in the Tireh basin a 23.2%, in the Marbareh basin a 28.7%, in the Vanak watershed a 26%, and in the Beheshtabad basin a 9.5%. The results validation indicated the appropriate compatibility of the observational and estimated data for the control points (the stations). In this research, natural flow is obtained by presenting a practical method based on available information in the country. The proposed method has been in the preliminary stages. To verify and comprehend it, it should be used in future research on the interaction of surface and underground water and the use of new technologies such as remote sensing.

This study determines the amount of irrigation water saved as a result of the subsidy policy to adapt from flood to drip irrigation. We developed a positive mathematical programming model (PMP) to evaluate the effect of economic incentives on farmers’ decisions to choose the type of irrigation technology, cropping pattern, and "water use" and "water consumption" in rural Garkan Shomali district, which is part of the Najafabad aquifer. We collected data through farm surveys, desk research, and expert interviews. The results showed that a reduction in the financial costs of converting flood irrigation into drip irrigation can lead to farmers investing in this technology. In the current water allocation scenario, the subsidy policy increases the water consumption of drip-irrigated crops by 28%, of which 19% is non-consumed water before subsidy payment and the rest is related to the reduction of furrow-irrigated lands. Also, under non-volumetric water delivery conditions, the operating costs reduce and the net income of the farms increases because of the increase in efficiency and the development of the area under cultivation, which increases water consumption while the water use is constant. In the volumetric water delivery scenario, with the increase in subsidies, the net income of the farms will increase without developing the area under cultivation and only because of the increased yield. Therefore, subsidy policy increases irrigation efficiency at both the farm and regional levels and is an effective tool for dealing with drought conditions.

The agricultural sector is the most key sector that has a strong historical and social connection with water. Water is one of the greatest challenges of the present century. The inherent limitation of water resources is one of the most important challenges in the water sector. The current research was also conducted to investigate the sustainability of water consumption in Gachsaran citrus orchards. The research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire that includes sustainability, social, institutional, physical, knowledge, and attitudinal management. Data analysis was done with SPSS software. The statistical population of the present study is 300 citrus growers of Gachsaran. 169 people were selected as a sample using simple random sampling. The results of the correlation test showed that there is a significant and moderate relationship between the sustainable management of water consumption and the knowledge factor. But the relationship between sustainable management of water consumption and physical, social, attitude and institutional factors is significant and weak. Also, the variables included in the regression analysis explained a total of 29% of the influencing factors on the sustainability variable of water consumption management. Most of the gardeners used animal manure, which leads to water storage and increased moisture retention. But the long-term use of chemical fertilizers can lead to soil destruction and groundwater pollution.

Background and Objectives: One of the main factors in the economic and social development of any country is water reserves and potential. Comprehensive and comprehensive knowledge of water resources is a prerequisite for optimal and sustainable use of these resources. In Iran, due to the lack of rainfall in most of the watersheds and the limited water resources, codified planning to know the possibilities and limitations of water resources with the aim of optimal utilization is very necessary and inevitable. Today, one of the basic strategies for managing water resources in the agricultural sector is to choose the appropriate cultivation pattern and determine the strategies for the optimal allocation of agricultural water. In the conditions of limited water resources and abundance of cultivable land, the goal should be to increase the efficiency of water consumption and optimal use of limited water resources and obtain the greatest economic benefit. Materials and Methods: This research was conducted on the cropping pattern of the Gonbad-e Kavus region in Golestan province, using the irrigation network of the Golestan Dam for four major autumn crops (wheat, canola, barley, and triticale) in the agricultural years of 2017-2018 to 2020-2021. A multi-objective optimization was performed using the non-dominate sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) with the objectives of maximizing net economic profit and reducing water consumption. Initially, by considering the minimum values of the cropping pattern and using various computational steps, the maximum net economic profit and the amount of stored water were calculated through a bi-objective optimization method. In the next step, the net economic profit obtained from the stored water was optimized using a single-objective optimization method. Finally, the best computational step was selected by combining the values of bi-objective and single-objective net economic profit. Results: The results showed that the computational steps for each year were not the same, and the maximum net economic profit obtained by observing the minimum allowable cropping pattern and stored water (bi-objective optimization) and the maximum net economic profit obtained by optimizing stored water in the previous step (single-objective optimization) were calculated with different computational steps, considering the calculated annual profit. The results obtained from the maximum net economic profit and stored water based on the minimum allowable cropping pattern, bi-objective optimization (maximum net economic profit and maximum stored water), and the results obtained from single-objective optimization of stored water were accumulated. By considering the accumulated net economic profit from bi-objective and single-objective computational steps, the best net economic profit was achieved. Furthermore, despite the reduction in cultivated area and allocated water in the agricultural years of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, an increase in net economic profit was observed compared to previous years. In the year 2020-2021, due to the lower allocated water compared to previous years and the optimal cropping pattern being on a negligible area of the target year's cultivated area (83.85 hectares), the highest net economic profit was achieved with a 138% increase in profit. This was due to the increase in product prices compared to the costs, increasing income greater than the increase in costs. Conclusion: The results of the present research showed that the use of multi-objective optimization methods has a good performance to obtain more economic profit by managing optimal allocated water consumption. Also, taking calculated steps by the officials and organizations of water users to manage the allocated water reserve and achieve the maximum net economic benefit will increase employment, reverse migration, and achieve a higher level of social welfare. According to the observance of the minimum strategic cultivation of wheat and the increase of rapeseed and triticale fodder crops, the current model has an optimal and appropriate performance in terms of ensuring food supply chain security and the point of view of non-agent defense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and purpose: Water is a key element in hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present s tudy aimed to survey the opinions regarding the possible impact of Coronavirus on water and wastewater sources and facilities. Methods: The experts and managers of the Regional Water Organization and the Water and Wastewater Company were surveyed using a checklist (ranking-descriptive) in the present cross-sectional descriptive s tudy. One-sample and two-sample chi-square tests and non-parametric Mann-Whitney test were used for s tatis tical analysis. Results: In total, 70.9% of participants believed that the outbreak of COVID-19 affected the water resources and facilities in terms of consumption and supply while increasing the consumption (93.2%) and creating a significant challenge in supply (83%) had des tructive effects on other uses, especially agriculture (22.7%). Also, 92.3% believed that managing urban water consumption during the Corona outbreak and modifying the consumption pattern is necessary. The need for more preparation (79.6%), funding (86.8%), and training (96.8%) was recommended. Regular monitoring of water was emphasized by 70.9% of the participants. It is noteworthy that only 50.4% of the respondents believed that the treatment done on the water in the water treatment plants can control the coronavirus. Conclusion: The performance of managers and experts regarding water sources and facilities is a function of their beliefs regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. About 50% of the participants failed to believe in the effectiveness of the exis ting water treatment in deactivating the coronavirus. Also, specialized training is recommended to increase knowledge.

Due to developing abstractions and their impacts on surface runoff, the recorded flow has been changed by human activities in most water gauging stations. Therefore, there is not found natural regime in the catchments. Accordingly, the objective of naturalization is to remove the effect of human activity factors and determine the actual amount of the river flow before the abstraction and the upstream development. Researchers have presented different methods that are mainly based on volume budget. In this way, this research presented the conventional methods as well as investigated their weak points. These new and innovative methods have been applied based on the available data. The methods have been planned based on the net consumption in which, the different types of water demands related to the upstream of each hydrometric station, are estimated for each month of a long-term series. Then, the amount of natural flow is determined by adding them to the observed flow. The accuracy and validation of the results are investigated by comparing the observed and calculated flow. As a case study, this method was utilized and implemented for Tireh and Marbareh sub-basins in Dez as well as Solgan and Beheshtabad sub-basins in the Karun basin. The results showed the role of the human activity factors decreasing the long-term outflow in the Tireh basin a 23.2%, in the Marbareh basin a 28.7%, in the Vanak watershed a 26%, and in the Beheshtabad basin a 9.5%. The results validation indicated the appropriate compatibility of the observational and estimated data for the control points (the stations). In this research, natural flow is obtained by presenting a practical method based on available information in the country. The proposed method has been in the preliminary stages. To verify and comprehend it, it should be used in future research on the interaction of surface and underground water and the use of new technologies such as remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofloc technology is an environmentally aquaculture production system in which nutrients are continuously recycled and reused. In this technology, growth performance, water quality and production costs need to be considered. The objective of this study was to evaluate intensive culture of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in indoor biofloc system (BFT). One biofloc treatment with minimum water exchange and one control with 30% renewal water in triplicates were managed. Fish (40 g in weight) were stocked in 400 L fiberglass tanks at a density of 2 kg/m3 and 18-week experiment was conducted. Mollasses was added to the biofloc tanks at a C:N ratio of 20:1. In this study, biofloc treatment exhibited significantly higher mean total ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity, total suspended solid and lower pH than the control (p

Introduction and purpose: Water scarcity is a daunting challenge in most areas of the world, with at least one in six people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between religious attitudes and water saving in students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2021. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 299 students who were selected by the convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were the water conservation tendency and the religious attitude standard questionnaires (Marzban et al., 2019). Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 24) using an independent t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient statistics tests. Results: The mean scores of religious attitude and tendency towards water saving were 4.19±0.5 and 4.25±0.36, respectively. Moreover, 92.3% and 100% of students were in favarouble conditions in terms of religious attitude and water saving, respectively. The tendency to save water consumption had a significant relationship with the university of students (P

This study determines the amount of irrigation water saved as a result of the subsidy policy to adapt from flood to drip irrigation. We developed a positive mathematical programming model (PMP) to evaluate the effect of economic incentives on farmers’ decisions to choose the type of irrigation technology, cropping pattern, and "water use" and "water consumption" in rural Garkan Shomali district, which is part of the Najafabad aquifer. We collected data through farm surveys, desk research, and expert interviews. The results showed that a reduction in the financial costs of converting flood irrigation into drip irrigation can lead to farmers investing in this technology. In the current water allocation scenario, the subsidy policy increases the water consumption of drip-irrigated crops by 28%, of which 19% is non-consumed water before subsidy payment and the rest is related to the reduction of furrow-irrigated lands. Also, under non-volumetric water delivery conditions, the operating costs reduce and the net income of the farms increases because of the increase in efficiency and the development of the area under cultivation, which increases water consumption while the water use is constant. In the volumetric water delivery scenario, with the increase in subsidies, the net income of the farms will increase without developing the area under cultivation and only because of the increased yield. Therefore, subsidy policy increases irrigation efficiency at both the farm and regional levels and is an effective tool for dealing with drought conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: All plants in natural ecosystems seem to symbiose with fungal endophytes . This highly diverse group of fungi can have profound effects on plant communities by helping to tolerate abiotic and biological stresses, increasing biomass, and reducing water consumption or changing resource allocation. Materials and Methods: In this study, the spatio-temporal biodiversity of fungal endophytes of Fusarium sp. and Thielavia sp. isolated from six species of halophyte plants was examined . The spatio-temporal biodiversity of these two fungal endophytes in different tissues of halophyte plant species was assessed by PAST software using Simpson, Shannon, and Margalf richness indices. The ITS-specific primer was used for the molecular identification of fungi. Results: The results of the study showed that the highest frequency was related to the fungal endophyte Thielavia sp. 21.75% in the stem. Examination of the Simpson, Shannon, and Margalf richness indices showed that the highest fungal endophyte diversity for these indices were 0.498, 0.691, and 0.445 in the stem of Bienertia cycloptera, respectively. Also, the results of the Simpson and Shannon diversity index showed that the highest fungal endophyte diversity of 0.500 and 0.693 was observed in the plant species of Abu Musa Island, and for the Margalf richness index, the highest fungal endophytic diversity of 0.455 was observed in Sirik port. Discussion and Conclusion: The results of this study showed the high spatio-temporal diversity of the two fungal endophyte species in the six saline plant species studied . Based on this information, it can be concluded that the supply of endophytes from geographical areas in which plant species are highly diverse, can be effective in the success of the plant colonization program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spread prevention actions (SPAs) during Coronavirus pandemic period, such as increased hand-washing, temporary lock-downs, preventions in transportation, and the reduction of recreational and industrial activities may change the routines in social behaviors. Accordingly, SPAs can be effective on the quality and quantity of raw municipal wastewater. This research evaluates the aforementioned hypothesis and recommends solutions for the proper operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Methods: For this purpose, the quantity and quality of sewage in 23 municipal WWTPs in Isfahan province, as the study area, were surveyed and compared from 2015 to 2020. SPSS software (version 23) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Results indicated that the annual growth rate of sewage discharged in the spring and summer of 2020 (period of SPAs) in the study area is 24% more than the average of annual growth rate in long-term (2015-2019). This increase is 45% in small WWTPs, while it is only 5% in large WWTPs. Results also revealed that the concentration of chemical oxidation demand (COD) of sewage was reduced 24% on average in this period. In addition, the biodegradability of wastewater is increased in large WWTPs mainly due to the decrease of industrial activities. Conclusion: Therefore, SPAs in the pandemic period of Coronavirus could increase the quantity of municipal wastewater and reduce its COD concentrations. These variations may provide more appropriate operational conditions for waste stabilization ponds rather than activated sludge units.

IntroductionWater is one of the main important environmental factors limiting plant culture, in arid and semiarid regions like Iran. Providing continuous soil moisture content in the range of field capacity and reducing water losses in near root zone can play a key role in the development of soil and water management programs. Subsurface irrigation system with porous clay capsules are able to release water in the soil at field capacity range. This method is one of the traditional methods to reduce water consumption and increase water use effficiency for providing water requirement of plants in small scale farms at the worlds. There are different types of porous pipes. Clay nozzles are a type of porous clay pipes that allow optimal use of irrigation water due to the moisture supply of field capacity at the roots of plants.Materials and MethodsIn this study, subsurface irrigation with porous clay capsule nuzzle was used to provide the water requirement of two fruitful plant (Grapes and Oranges) and measure the volume of water consumption in comparison with drip irrigation method. Porous clay capsule is able to release water into soil about field capacity in low hydroustatic pressure. The soil water content in field capacity was measured by mini soil Tensiometer in 30 kPa soil suction. Soil moisture in field capacity content was 28% for clay soil texture in citrus orchard. In subsurface and surface irrigation methods, 4 porous clay capsules and 2 dripper (8 litr.h-1), were placed for each citrus plant respectively. The volume of water consumed after each irrigation in both methods was measured by a water meter counter with precision +/-1 liter. In citrus plants, to compare the effect of irrigation type the collar diameter and plant height were studied for three consecutive years, and were compared using t-test (P

Although Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid region and the average rainfall is less than one third of the global average, but in terms of water consumption is considered one of the most consumed countries as expected in the year will face a physical shortage of water in the future. Since the first step in dealing with the challenges is to identify the subject under study, in this regard, in the present study, the factors affecting domestic water consumption in the provinces of Iran have been identified. Theoretical and empirical evidence shows the effect of strengthening social capital on encouraging people to cooperate in the field of environmental measures. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to investigate the role of social capital in domestic water consumption in the provinces of Iran. In this study, while calculating an index as a proxy for social capital, the effect of social capital on household water consumption has been investigated using panel data. The results show an inverse relationship between social capital and water consumption. In other words, the authorities are able to control water consumption in this area through measures that lead to gaining the trust and cooperation of the people.

In the past years, by increasing population and water consumption, as well as the high cost of developing surface water resources, the exploitation of groundwater resources has increased significantly. In the current situation, a significant part of the country's water consumption in all sectors of consumption is provided by groundwater sources. On the other hand, the development of industry and the entry of pollutants, including heavy metals, into the groundwater endanger the health of humans. The present research has investigated the non-cancerous risk caused by heavy metals in the groundwater of Urmia plain for both children and adults. This research is based on a descriptive-analytical method based on the available data, in which the concentration of polluting metals obtained from the studies conducted in the fall and winter of 2016 from the number of 12 wells supplying rural drinking water in the Urmia plain has been analyzed. Also, human health risk assessment was measured using the United States Environmental Protection Agency index. The results showed that there are six heavy metals including cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, and lead in the region's groundwater, among which two of the wells have cadmium and lead values higher than national and international standards. Also, the total non-cancer risk index through ingestion and skin absorption for both children and adults groups was found to be 0.23 and 0.096, respectively, which is less than one, and this indicates that the water quality of the region is suitable for drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing crop production per unit volume of water consumption requires recognizing the most dependent variable in drip irrigation to the volume of water consumption and also identifying the most important variables independent of water productivity in surface and subsurface drip irrigation for optimal use of available water resources. The present research was carried out in Behbahan Agricultural Research Station during four cropping seasons (2013-2017) on a Kabkab date variety. Experimental treatments include the amount of water in the subsurface drip irrigation method based on two levels of 75% and 100% water requirement and in surface drip irrigation based on 100% water demand. Data were analyzed using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of the analysis of variance of the mean of different irrigation treatments in quantitative traits showed that the effect of irrigation was significant at the level of 1% in terms of cluster weight index, fruit weight, and fruit flesh to kernel weight ratio. The results of regression analysis of variance showed that in the dependent variable of cluster weight, the consumption water volume explained 19.1% (R2 = 0.191) of the fluctuations of the dependent variable (cluster weight). Among all the studied variables, the volume of water consumption explained the most significant changes in date cluster drying. Fruit moisture with t (2.096) and equivalent beta coefficient (0.046) had a significant positive effect on water productivity at the level of 5%. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the effect of yield on changes in water productivity was much greater than the volume of water consumed so the yield caused significant changes in water productivity. While the effect of water consumption on water productivity was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recirculating hatchery system (RHS) and a flow-through system (FTS)in terms of major macro elements (Ca, Mg, Na and k), some microelements (Fe and Cu), total bacteria and quality characteristics of Rainbow trout eggs and larvae were comparatively studied. A recirculating system (RHS) and a flow-through system (FTS) were designed for incubating the eggs and rearing the yolk-sac larvae. Fertilized eggs were distributed (5000 eggs in each tray) in four replicates and incubated under the standard conditions until yolk sac absorption. Total bacteria and macro/micro elements were measured at one-week interval. Eyed egg percentage, hatching rate, growth, and survival rate of larvae were measured. In the FTS and RHS, percentages of the eyed eggs were 79.75% and 79.01% respectively, and hatching rates were 70.31% and 63.65%, respectively. There were no significant differences amongst the values of Ca, Mg, and Na during the experimental period and between two systems. K Values in the RHS were significantly higher than in the FTS during the egg incubation period. Fe Values in the RHS were more than in the FTS, and increased during the study period in both systems. The values of total bacteria in the RHS were significantly higher than in the FTS. Despite the differences observed between the experimental systems, the designed RHS can be used for incubating the eggs and rearing the yolk-sac larvae in rainbow trout hatcheries, because of its simplicity, low water consumption, and acceptable efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosopis cineraria (L.) druce and Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf. are important species of Sahara-Sindhi vegetation. While being native, they have good adaptability, growth and regeneration. This study was conducted to estimate the amount of groundwater required for the sustainability of Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria natural forests in the watershed of Faryab county in Kerman province, Iran. First, using Google Earth images, networking establishment of ninety plots of 100 m2 in one-hectare networks, the average number of Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria trees were counted. Then, using the minimum water requirement of trees, estimated based on lysimetric studies, water consumption of Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria trees in the area was calculated. Using the MODFLOW model, the groundwater balance situation in Faryab plain aquifer for 2017-2018 was calculated. Having the volume of water consumption of Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria in the region, water balance and aquifer storage coefficient, the impact of the forests on groundwater of Faryab plain was calculated. The results showed that the average number of P. cineraria trees is 250 individuals and Z. spina-christi tree stands are 30 individuals per hectare. The results of the study of water balance and groundwater aquifer show a volume deficit of 25 million cubic meters of the reservoir and a 26-meter drop in groundwater level over the past two decades. According to the water balance calculated, the uncontrolled extraction of water by agricultural wells, which is about 160 million cubic meters per year, has caused such a decline in the region. Considering the importance of Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria trees for this ecosystem as the main species, the water right of this forest was estimated to be 2.6 million cubic meters per year in the planning of water resources in the Faryab plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In recent years, climate change and global warming, by reducing rainfall and higher temperature, have increased the frequency and severity of drought and water scarcity in various parts of the world, including Iran. The study of the annual discharge of rivers located in Qarehsou basin (Golestan province) showed that this basin has also faced drought in recent years and since most of the water required of Miankaleh wetland is supplied from Qarehsou River, so Water abstraction for agricultural, urban and industrial uses will have a major impact on the ecosystem of Miankaleh wetland. Given that agriculture is the main economic activity in the Golestan province and also it is the largest consumer of water and food security providers in the region Therefore, reducing irrigation water consumption can provide the extra water needed to protect the wetland. In order to sustainable supply water required of Miankaleh wetland in Gorgan Gulf, and preventing to dry the wetland, and using area's capacity in food security, attending to water resources management is very important in Qarehsou river Basin and Gorgan Gulf (Miankaleh wetland). Materials and Methods In this paper, a hydro-economic river basin model was used to water optimal allocation of Qarehsou River among water users in the basin (including irrigation activities, urban, industrial, and fishery uses, and environment) and protecting the Miankaleh wetland ecosystem (Gorgan Gulf). The empirical river basin model includes three reduce forms of hydrological components, regional optimization components, and environmental components and can make the integrated linkage between hydrologic, economic, institutional, and environmental components. This model also simulates demand nodes' behavior under different drought scenarios. The linkage between the three model components allows a rigorous evaluation of the quantitative impacts of drought on water availability in the river basin under study, the effects on the users' behaviors, and the private and socialeconomic benefits and costs of water use. The hydrological model of the river basin is based on the principles of water mass balance, which determine the volume of water availability in the different river reaches. This water available can be used for economic activities after taking into account the environmental restrictions for economic activities. In the economic component, the economic benefits of water demand are maximized by using water demand functions subject to technical and resource constraints. In the environmental component, we maximize the benefits that environmental characteristics provide for society and compare them with the benefits of other applications. Results and Discussion The results showed, in the current condition, the allocation and consumption of water have not been optimal between nodes in the Qarehsou river basin. In the normal water supply scenario, also total water sources decreased to protect Miankaleh wetland in suitable condition, but the area under cultivation of the most crops increases, which increases water resources consumption in this sector, and finally, the net benefits of the agriculture sector has grown positively. Also, by allocating 18 million cubic meters of water to the wetland, because of optimal water allocation, urban water consumption, and annual gross benefit increase, too. In drought conditions, because of water shortage due to climate change and reduction headwater and surface flows to preserve the wetland, water consumption reduced by all nodes, especially irrigation node. Agricultures can prevent from reducing excessive of their income by changing in cultivation pattern, deficit planting crops with less water, etc. Under drought conditions and water scarcity, although the amount of water available is reduced to all applicant nodes compared to baseline conditions, but it improves the economic benefits of stakeholders, especially the environment sector. Increasing groundwater extraction and decreasing surface water (due to drought and wetland water supply from headwater flow), although Qarehsou river basin has faced water scarcity problem, due to the optimal distribution of water between water demand nodes based on the economic-hydrological model used by changing the cultivation pattern and the use of drought-tolerant crops, the amount of water entering the Miankaleh wetland has increased in normal and drought scenarios and as a result has increased the gross environmental benefits of Qarehsou basin. Therefore, it is recommended to protect the Miankaleh wetland and increase its ecological function, reduce the water allocated value to irrigation sector, and to increase the farmers economy efficiency, optimal cultivation pattern, and applying deficit irrigation strategies promote by agricultural jihad experts in province, and in drought conditions is used suitable strategies for drought to improve water resources management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, water scarcity has become a global problem due to the growth of the world's population as well as the increase in per capita water consumption. Therefore, planning and managing water resources to prevent potential risks such as floods and drought in the future is one of the important measures of water resources management. One of the important measures to avoid potential risks and predict the future is rainfall-runoff modeling. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the WetSpa hydrological model in estimating surface runoff in the Eskandari watershed, which is one of the important sub-basins of the Zayandehrood watershed. In this study, Daran and Fereydunshahr synoptic stations have been used to collect meteorological information in the Eskandari watershed. Also, to study the flow of the Plasjan river, daily data of Eskandari hydrometric station, located at the outlet of the basin, have been used. Climatic data along with digital maps of altitude, soil texture, and land use were entered as input to the WetSpa model. Finally, the ability of the WetSpa model was evaluated in estimating river surface runoff. The observed flow at the basin outlet in the hydrometric station was used to evaluate and calibrate the model. The model was calibrated for the statistical period (1992-2000) and its validation was performed for the statistical period (2001-2004). In the calibration period, the trial and error method were used to calibrate the model parameters. The simulation results showed a good correlation between the simulated flow and the measured flow. In the present study, the Nash Sutcliffe coefficient in the calibration and validation stages was equal to 0.73 and 0.75, respectively which shows the good and acceptable ability of the model in estimating the surface runoff of the study basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated assessment of the watershed is critical in arid and semi-arid areas due to the severe water stress in these regions. Data and information are an essential part of decision making and water governance to obtain integrated water resources management at the watershed scale. Water accounting is a helpful tool to organize information and present them as the standard indicators to achieve this goal. Therefore, the objective of this study is to implement the Water Accounting Plus framework (WA+) in the Ferizi watershed located in the Khorasan-e Razavi Province. In this study, water accounting indicators of the Ferizi watershed for a period of 28 years (1990-2017) and wet (1990-1997) and dry (1998-2009) periods were calculated using the SWAT model. The calculated indicators showed that the amount of manageable water and usefulness of consumption (transpiration) is low in the watershed and a large part of the share of irrigation in the watershed is provided by groundwater resources. Generally, the results of this study showed that the use of the SWAT model, WA+ framework, and analysis of water accounting indicators play a significant role in assessing the agricultural and hydrological conditions of the watershed. The proposed approach in this study can help managers make enlightened decisions to keep the sustainability of the watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Population growth and climate change affect the sources of water. There are two Planning strategies to provide the sources of urban water: The first one is to provide a clean and reliable sources and the second one is the management of water demand. The second option΄s aim is to reduce water consumption. Traditionally, urban planners have not been involved in the management of urban water. While how to build cities, affects the supply and the use of water directly. Methods: The goal of this article is to recognize the relation between built-environment indicators with how to use water in the level of quarter for increasing water protection. Based on this matter, 9 indicators in this field has been identified as effective urbanization΄s factors in the management of water consumption, and then the average of water consumption in each category was extracted. Also categorized data in different groups according to sightly indicator entered into SPSS software for statistical analysis. And in the process of analysis of the ANOVA method and multiple comparisons to specify the level of the indicators΄ importance and then the Friedman-Test to specify the level of the impact of indicators on Al-Ghadir Neighborhood has been used. Results:Findings have shown that respectively perimeter ratio indicators on area and the rotation of block with maximum impact on water consumption and the indicator of shape, continuity and area can have minimum impact on water consumption in Al-Ghadir Neighborhood. Conclusion: Therefore, Results have shown that urban planners have been able to promote the protection of the urban water by using planning strategies and designing in the level of Neighborhood and shaping the built-environment and adjusting land use. And they can affect on how to consume water in cities. A comprehensive approach to all these categories and logical and reasonable connection between them and their pervasive development that is the only reasonable way to manage water in cities.

The critical situation of water and its demand growth in Iran as well as the destruction and improper exploitation of groundwater resources with drought continuity have caused the management of water demand to become an important concern in the country's policies in all sectors, including the household sector. Without identifying the influential factors and their importance in the pattern of household water consumption, planning and implementation of effective policies are impossible. This study identifies socio-economic factors affecting water demand and determine their degree of importance in the pattern of household water consumption. Due to the impossibility of specifying the accurate mathematical relationships between these factors and water consumption, this study used the random forest algorithm to determine the most important factors. Also, because of the differences in the lifestyle and cultures of rural and urban households, these two groups have been studied separately. Finally, according to the obtained results, 17 important factors were determined in three different levels of influence. The variables of household income, house size, and age of the household’s head were identified as the three most important quantitative variables affecting both urban and rural household consumption, respectively. Among the qualitative variables, the use of evaporative cooler was recognized as the most important effective variable. Other factors were ranked in order of effectiveness.

Introduction A review of the historical documents and references related to Tehran reveals that this city has been always intrigued by water shortage. In the not-too-distant past, water used to be provided by rivers and uncovered streams that were polluted and contained urban waste. During the recent decades and following the economic development of the country and technological development of water-related industries, several urban plans were executed in different regions of the country, particularly in Tehran as the capital of Iran. These plans led to wide structural changes in the spatial structure of the city. Gradually, these spatial changes led to the cultural development of the residents and immigrants to this city, who became its main residents, such that residents of Tehran have recorded the highest water consumption rate in Iran. The present study shows that taking a bath, which is an essential need and an integral part of the urban and civilized lifestyle today, is a developmental process and its historical course is indicative of the cultural construction of this phenomenon. This construction was reconstructed in a period of contemporary history leading to a critical level of water consumption. Therefore, the authors of this study seek to find an answer to these questions: What changes have the bathroom and taking a bath undergone in their historical course? What are the conditions leading to fundamental changes in washing customs of people? In other words, the present study is an attempt to compare the main structural and cultural features of taking a bath in the past and today, on the one hand, and to examine the structural conditions of mental and cultural changes, on the other hand, to gain a better understanding of the habits and cultural features of the people of Tehran. Material & Methods The present study was carried out taking a theoretical qualitative approach and drawing on an ethnographic approach. Field studies and participatory observations from 2015 to 2019 were the main sources of data. The study was particularly focused on water consumption and household water use from 2015 to 2018. The data related to the past was also obtained by the historical method. For this purpose, historical texts, travelogues, and images from the past were used. Tourists’ and western politicians’ travelogues such as those of Chardin, Drewville, and Tavernier in the Safavid period were rich sources of data for knowing about the Iranian community and its internal elements such as bathrooms and bathing customs. Written documents and valuable images shared on the cyberspace and the internet as an important part of historical documents related to the spatial structure, architecture of bathrooms and bathing customs and culture in the past were used as the basis of our analysis of the past. The research field included Tehran. To obtain a large volume of information based on the purpose and the questions addressed in the study, two purposeful samplings were made and maximum diversity was used in the group and individual dialogues with two families and 30 citizens of Tehran. This article was written using the authors’ experience of participating in the living environment of the people of Tehran along with in-depth semi-structured interviews with the participants. Brown and Clark’s thematic analysis (2006) was used for analyzing the data obtained via individual and group interviews and field observations. Discussion of Results & Conclusions With the execution of renovation programs in Iran during the last century and the country becoming richer as the result of selling oil, major changes were gradually made possible in the cultural system, on the one hand, and in the psychological drives at the individual level, on the other hand, and people became more civilized. After the reformations made by Reza Shah for centralizing the power, the community became increasingly complicated making public relationships more intertwined and making different social classes growingly interdependent. During these years, consumerism and, consequently, increased water consumption as one of the signs of civilization grew. One of the important functions of bathrooms is to deny and hide one’s primary nature. In other words, the bathroom and bathing in the modern period were accompanied by individualism and the community becoming more civilized. The transformation of the spatial structure of bathrooms and the bathing culture as a consequence of the changes in the water supply system was the predictable result of the renovation process. A review of the history of bathing and bathrooms in Iran reveals that considerable changes have been made from the period of popularity of public bathrooms to the in-house or private bathrooms. In the past, the distance between bathrooms and homes, informal supervision and control, lack of public belief in the need to observe health protocols, financial problems, and technical problems related to water supply made bathing an occasional action with a large time interval in between. The social functions of bathrooms in the form of helping one another in getting washed, massaging, cutting one’s hair, its health and hygiene dimensions, performing religious rites, visiting others, informing others, etc. turned bathrooms into a place very much different from what it is now. In the new era, however, with the development of water supply technologies and improved economic conditions, bathrooms gradually changed into an indoor place with features different from what it used to be. The development of washing facilities and belief in increased access to bathrooms led people to add bathing to their list of daily activities. Bathroom privatization brought about proper hygiene standards. With indoor shower heads being replaced, bathrooms were no longer a place for accumulation of dirt in public bathing pools (referred to as ‘Khazineh’). The growing aesthetic standards by using bathroom tiles of different happy colors on the floor and walls of the bathroom, installing a mirror in the bathroom, designing different functional and luxurious shower heads, bathtubs, lighting, playing music in the bathroom were indicative of the change of the meaning of bathroom and its expected functions in the modern era. Easier access to bathrooms was one of the reasons for the reduced interval between the times of bathing. As the duration of bathing was shortened considering the changes in its traditional functions such as elimination of its social, religious and aesthetic aspects, the spatial structure of bathrooms was modified in a way that it was no longer possible to stay in the bathroom for a long time due to its limited space. Accordingly, the term ‘taking a shower’, which refers to fast bathing in the small space of the bathroom while standing, entered the bathing literature in the contemporary era. Under the conditions, bathing acquired numerous functions. It was a place for getting personal privacy, expression of feelings, crying, laughing, unburdening oneself with water, thinking, singing, refreshment, getting a feeling of peace, cleaning the body and soul. It was also an appropriate space for the appearance of a spiritual sense, focus on one’s body and looking into the mirror, touching one’s body when under the shower and getting the feeling of softness and warmth of the water as an external thing and the appearance of a sexual feeling, development of a better feeling of oneself, improving the sense of unity with oneself, increased self-confidence in interpersonal relationships and civil behavior for avoiding visual and olfactory contamination. All these acquired high significances in becoming civilized.

In this study, the effect of conservation tillage and irrigation methods on the soil properties, cotton yield, and water productivity was evaluated in a wheat-cotton cropping system in the form of a split-plot experimental design. The main plots were irrigation using the three methods including surface irrigation, drip tape irrigation, and sprinkler irrigation. Tillage methods including zero tillage, reduced tillage, and conventional tillage were considered as subplots in this research. Results showed that tillage methods had no significant effect on cotton yield; whereas, the cotton yield was significantly affected by irrigation methods (p˂0.05). Tape and sprinkler irrigation methods saved water compared to surface irrigation for 51% and 28%, respectively. The maximum water productivity (0.324 kg m-3) was obtained from the tape irrigation and the minimum water productivity (0.146 kg m-3) was related to surface irrigation. Results also indicated that irrigation and tillage methods had a significant effect on the soil bulk density and infiltration rate so that drip tape irrigation and conventional tillage had the highest infiltration rates, and tape irrigation and reduced tillage had the highest soil bulk density.

"Water accounting" is an approach to organise the information on water supply and analyse its socio-economic values in different sectors of the country. The estimation of the volume of water required for the national agricultural productions in the framework of product-based water accounting can be investigated. The key question is: what is the share of water consumption for the production of main crops in the country? In this study, using the net crop water requirement database of 2014-2015, and assuming an irrigation application efficiency of 44.7%, the water consumption of the selected crops in the country was estimated. Results show the maximum volume of water consumption by main crops is 78.6 billion m3, where 16.9 m3 is allocated to wheat production including 18.3% of the total water consumption for crops in the country. Comparing the net water consumption of wheat with other crops over 620 plains indicates that wheat, after barley, has the lowest net water consumption equal to 3562 m3/ha. Therefore, the volume of water consumption for wheat production is mainly affected by the cultivation area of irrigated wheat in the country (2.4 million hectares). Improving water productivity reduces the volume of water consumption in main crop production. The socio-economic values of main crop production could take precedence over its costs.

Background and Objective: Water is one of the most valuable environmental factors that has become one of the greatest challenges of human society today. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious attitudes toward water saving in high school students in Yazd. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2018. 600 subjects (300 girls and 300 boys) were selected by random sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire on water saving tendency including 21 questions and Religious attitude questionnaire including 60 questions. The score range for the religious attitude and the tendency to save water was 60-300 and 21-105, respectively. Data were entered into SPSS18 software and analyzed using Chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient and descriptive statistics. Results: The mean and standard deviation of the religious attitude score and the tendency to save water consumption were 180.11 ± 14.31 and 65.27 ± 10.21, respectively. The religious attitude of students with age and gender, and the tendency toward water saving with gender variables and number of family members was significant (p

Iran is located in the dry belt of the earth and is predicted to face water stress in the next half-century. Currently, the area of sugarcane cultivation in Khuzestan is over 85,000 hectares and due to the high water needs of sugarcane and drought conditions, optimization of water consumption and irrigation management is necessary to continue production. Therefore, in this study, the values of soil moisture, canopy cover, biomass yield in five treatments and irrigation levels (start of irrigation at 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% soil moisture discharge) during 2 planting dates in the crop year 2015-2016 on sugarcane cultivar CP69-1062 in Amirkabir sugarcane cultivation and industry located in the south of Khuzestan was simulated by AquaCrop model. The measured data on the first culture date (D1) and the second culture date (D2) were used to calibrate and validate the model. The results of NRMSE statistics in canopy cover simulation in calibration and validation sets with values of 2.1 to 15.6% and 3.8 to 18.3%, respectively, and in biomass simulation with values of 6.2 to 15.2%, and 9.5 to 12.6%, respectively and coefficient of determination (R2), range 0.98 to 0.99 indicated that the high ability of the AquaCrop model in simulation canopy cover and biomass yield. whereas, the values of NRMSE of soil depth moisture in the calibration and validation sets ranged from 11.6 to 23.8, and 12.2 to 22.7, respectively, with a coefficient of determination (R2), 0.73 to 0.96 (calibration) 0.8 to 0.93 (validation) showed less accuracy of the model in the simulation. The best scenario is related to the third proposal that water consumption, water use efficiency, and yield are 1710 mm, 1.53, and 42.27 tons per hectare, respectively, which shows a reduction in water consumption of 360 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate and evaluate the effects of different levels of drip irrigation on grain yield and yield components, oil yield, seed oil percentage, and seed water use efficiency, an experiment was performed at Behbahan Agricultural Research Station during two crop years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The experiment was conducted in split plots based on a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The amount of water in tape drip irrigation was compared at four levels of 40, 60, 80, and 100% water requirement in main plots and two sesame cultivars Local of Behbahan and Shevin in subplots from the beginning of flowering. Comparison of mean interaction effects of irrigation levels and cultivars showed that the treatment of 100% water requirement in the Behbahan local cultivar with the yield of 1218.0 kg/ha was ranked first and foremost. Water consumption in the highest treatment (100% water requirement and Behbahan local cultivar) was calculated to be 5389.4 m3/ha. Treatments of 100% and 80% of water requirement in superior cultivar (local Behbahan) with water use efficiency of 0.226 and 0.210 kg/m3 had no significant difference, respectively, and were in the first place. Pearson correlation coefficient calculated for the measured traits showed that the highest correlation of water volume was calculated (r = 0.9271) with the weight of one thousand seeds. Significant correlations of water volume with grain yield and yield components indicated that sesame was susceptible to drought stress and attention to optimal water management in sesame cultivation. Therefore, decreasing the volume of water consumed and consequently drought stress in sesame reduced yield and yield components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Replacement of the usual harvesting sugarcane method (burning field before harvesting) by green harvesting method could be the most important factor contributing to the ecological balance and stable sugarcane production in the Khuzestan region. To evaluate the green harvesting sugarcane method and its effects on the agronomic and physiological characteristics of sugarcane cultivars, a field experiment was conducted in Imam Khomeini Agro Industry during the 2015-2016 period. The experiment was carried out using a split plot design based on complete randomized block with four replications. Cultivars of Sugarcane as the main plots (CP73-21, CP69-1062 and CP69-1062) and five harvesting methods and ratooning as the sub plots were investigated. The results showed green harvesting method had a significant negative effect on nearly all agronomic and physiologic characteristics. Yield was reduced about %12.5 in the green harvesting methods. On the other hand, the results showed water consumption was substantially decreased (10,000 m-3) in the green harvesting method. Regarding problems in water supply for agricultural production in Iran, green harvesting of sugarcane could play an important role in ecosystem sustainability and sugarcane production of Khuzestan, aiding the better consumption of natural resources.

This Paper has studied the relationship between water consumption and value-added in the agriculture and industry sectors based on the Kuznets curve hypothesis, considering the low water demand and the need for water consumption management in different economic sectors of Iran. For this purpose, data of water consumption and value-added related to Iran's agriculture and industry sectors from 1991-2016 have been used. To analyze the relationship between variables, the method of Bootstrap Quintile Regression has been used. Results indicated that during the studied period there was a significant relationship between water consumption and agriculture value added, which is consistent with the Kuznets curve hypothesis. As production and value-added increased, water consumption has increased up to its maximum point and then with continued growth in production; water consumption has decreased. Also, there was a positive and significant linear relationship between value-added and water consumption in the industry sector. So, the Kuznets curve hypothesis was not confirm in the industry sector.

The prediction of water consumption in urban basins is of immense importance for the management of water resources, especially in arid and semiarid countries. The lack of strong predictive tools, or perhaps the lack of experienced users to those tools, may contribute to problems in data interpretation and failure to reach consensus about the need for key water management actions. Therefore, it is extremely important to comprehend the spatiotemporal variations of the water demand for the management of water in such urban areas. In this paper, a hybrid, artificial neural network – geostatistics, model is presented for spatiotemporal prediction of water consumptions. The proposed model contains two individual stages. In the first stage, an artificial neural network is trained for each station for time series modeling of water demands, so that the model can predict the water demands in the next month. At the second stage, the predicted values of water demands at different stations are imposed to a calibrated geostatistics model in order to estimate water demands at any desired point in the city. This methodology is applied for the Osku city, in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The most appropriate set of input variables to the model are selected through a combination of domain knowledge and available data series. The results suggested that the hybrid model is a good choice for predicting water demands in the study area.

Statement of the Problem: One of the biggest challenges of the present century is water shortage. Due to the increasing population growth, the consumption and demand for water have always been increasing, especially for rural people because most of them are farmers. This situation has become a big concern for them as well as authorities. Therefore, appropriate policies and plans have been raised for the management of water supply and demand known as the integrated management of water resources. Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of water resources management in sustainable livelihoods of rural households due to the consecutive droughts in Aq Qala Township. Methodology: This research had an applied purpose and a descriptive-analytical method. Accordingly, multiple questions were set in the form of a questionnaire. Rural households in two Voshmgir rural areas constituted the statistical population. The statistical sample consisted of 363 farmers in northern and southern Mazraeh rural districts who were selected by the simple random sampling method. Data were analyzed by statistical tests such as Mac McNemar, Friedman, Independent Samples T-Test, and Chi-square. Results: Using Friedman and Chi-square tests, the results showed a significant relationship (95%) between water resources management and increasing productivity in the sustainable livelihoods of rural households leading to population retention in rural areas. Accordingly, the government’s support of the planting of products with fewer water requirements, promoting greenhouse and hydroponic planting, training of farmers with water use reduction and new irrigation methods, and assigning long-term credits by the government can be appropriate solutions to increase productivity in the realization of water resources management. Innovation: This study was performed for the first time in a rural flooded zone in Aq Qala Township in order to improve the sustainable livelihoods of rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viscosity is used as the most important indicator in evaluating the cooking quality of rice. In order to investigate the best irrigation method and nitrogen application and their interaction effects on viscosity or cooking quality in Guilaneh rice cultivar, this experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment in a CRBD with 3 replications. Irrigation managements was considered in 3 levels(full irrigation, 7 and 14 day interval irrigation) and nitrogen fertilizer as the second factor in 3 levels(50, 75 and 100 kg/ha). It will achieve better cooking quality with higher peak viscosity, lower trough viscosity and lower final viscosity. In the study of the interaction effects of nitrogen fertilizer application and irrigation, the highest peak viscosity was observed in the treatment with 14-day interval irrigation and 75 kg nitrogen fertilizer per hectare (2707 Centipoise). The lowest trough viscosity was obtained in the treatment of 75 kg fertilizer and irrigation under flooding (1767 Centipoise). The lowest final viscosity was obtained with 7-day interval irrigation and 75 kg nitrogen fertilizer per hectare (3648 Centipoise). In the study of viscosity, the higher breakdown and lower setback indicate better cooking quality. The highest breakdown (881Centipoise), the lowest setback (957 Centipoise) and the lowest pasting temperature (84.54°C) were related to the treatment of nitrogen fertilizer 75 kg/ha and 7-day interval irrigation. Therefore, according to environmental conditions and recommendations to reduce fertilizer and water consumption, if there is no effect on yield, treatment with 7-day interval irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer 75 kg/ha to achieve the best cooking quality for Gilaneh cultivar is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, application of superabsorbent material as plantbac panels to overcome water shortages is considered for improving plant vegetation cover in arid areas. This research was aimed to investigate the effects of plantbac panels on plant establishment and growth of Calligonum comosum L'Herit. in the Kashan Arid and Desert Research Station over three years from 2017 to 2020. The experiment was conducted as a split plot design based on randomized complete blocks in four replications, in which the duration of irrigation (2 and 4 weeks) was considered as the main plot, and the amount of water (10 and 20 liters) and treatment (plantbac and control) as sub subplots. The seedlings were planted in the soils with and without plantbac panels. For each plant, the irrigation was conducted using 10 and 20 l water for two- and fourweek intervals. Data were collected and analyzed in terms of plant height, canopy diameter, collar diameter, and survival rate. The results showed that the use of plantback plates increased the examined growth criteria of seedlings. When comparing interactions between treatments, the height, collar diameter and crown diameter of the Plantback treated seedlings showed average 11, 11, and 14.8% superiority to their controls. Furthermore, the interaction effect of irrigation by water consumption was significant for canopy diameter (p < 0.05), while interaction effect of irrigation by plantbac was significant for plant height (p < 0.05). The average higher and lower crown diameters of 83 cm and 39 cm were observed by 10 l water in two- and four-week irrigations, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transplanting or pot culture has been mentioned as a promising approach to increase crop yield and decrease irrigation water use in recent years. Using simulation models to assess pot culture is a valuable way in investigating the effect on yield, water consumption and other properties of crops such as soybean. For this purpose, several pot culture levels (seedling sizes) plus direct sowing were evaluated in soybean using SSM-iCrop2 for four different sowing dates in Gorgan, Iran. Seedling sizes were 13, 18, 24 and 29 cm² per plant leaf area and at 200, 250, 300 and 350°C cumulative temperature, respectively. Sowing dates were June 10 (early), June 25 (usual), July 14 (late) and July 27 (very late). The results of simulation showed that direct seed planting method at late sowing date (14 July) and all treatments at very late sowing date (27 July) are not feasible and cannot be recommended due to disturbance that cause in sowing of next crop in double cropping system of the region. Transplanting method at early (10 June), usual (25 June) and late planting dates resulted in earlier maturity. There was no significant difference between two methods regarding seed yield at early and usual planting dates, but at late planting date transplanting method resulted in higher yield compared to direct seed planting method. Seedling size had no significant effect on yield. In addition, there was no significant difference among sowing methods in all planting dates in terms of net irrigation requirement of soybean. It was concluded that transplanting is only preferred at late sowing date for its higher yield, but considering the higher production costs of this method compared to direct sowing, it is necessary to find some cost-effective measures before pot culture could be adopted by farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of irrigation network and the water transfer from Karkheh Dam to Dashte-Abbas, due to neglecting the groundwater resources has increased groundwater level and waterlogging of the agricultural land in the recent years. The aim of this study was, therefore, to optimize the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources in DashteAbbas to minimize waterlogging problems and achieve the maximum net income. For this purpose, the behavior of groundwater was simulated using the system dynamics (SD) approach. The conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources was then optimized using the Vensim multi-criteria optimization method with the objective function of maximizing the net income of the plain. The SD model calibration was done using climatic, hydrological, agricultural, and environmental data from the 2001-2009 time period; then it was validated based on the information from the 2009- 2016 period. Evaluation of the developed SD model showed that the model had high accuracy in simulating key variables such as groundwater levels (ME=60cm, R² =97%, RMSE=47cm) and groundwater salinity (RMSE=100μS/cm, R² =74%, and ME=123μS/cm). Furthermore, the results of the optimization model showed that the optimum use of surface and groundwater resources for the agricultural demand was 65% and 35%, respectively. To sum up, it could be concluded that with the optimization of the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resource, s about 10 MCM of water consumption could be annually saved to irrigate almost 800 ha of the new lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effect of nutrition management along with zeolite application on the fertilizer use efficiency and irrigation water productivity of two cultivars of maize under deficit irrigation conditions, a field experiment was carried out. The experiment was conducted at Soil and Water Research Institute, Karaj, Iran, in 2015 and 2016, in the form of a factorial split plot layout based on a randomized complete block with three replications. Experimental treatments included: two levels of irrigation: full irrigation (I1) and low irrigation (70% full irrigation) (I2) as the main factor, and the factorial combination of fertilizer application at five levels; 1- conventional application of fertilizer (F1), 2- conventional application of fertilizer + 10 tons of zeolite per hectare from the source of clinoptilolite (F2), 3 - fertilizer application according to the recommended method (F3), 4. fertilizer application in the recommended method and 10 tons of zeolite per hectare from the source of clinoptilolite (F4), 5- control (without fertilizer) (F5) and maize cultivars: late maturity (Cross-704) (C1) and early maturity (C-Fajr) (C2) was considered as the sub-factor. The results showed that deficit irrigation reduced the grain yield of maize (17% and 20%, respectively, in Fajr and 704). The effect of fertilizer application on all plant traits was, therefore, significant in this study. Under deficit irrigation conditions, the highest grain yield of corn varieties was obtained from the recommended fertilizer application + zeolite (cultivars 704 and 260 produced 7934.3 and 7793.8 kg/ha, respectively), but it was decreased by 7% and 15%, respectively, as compared to the recommended application of fertilization + zeolite (cultivars 704 and 260 varieties produced 8180 and 9170.29 kg ha-1, respectively) under full irrigation condition. The results showed that using an appropriate fertilizer management with the consumption of 10 tons per hectare of zeolite, may lead to saving 30 percent in irrigation water consumption (about 2100 m3 per hectare) and obtaining good grain yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]