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The present study investigates different operating systems' potential to be selected as a reliable alternative in the modernization of agricultural water distribution using a set of indices representing the sustainable development goals (SDGs). These indices include economic perspectives ("the implementation cost of the operating system"; "economic value of water"; "The opportunity cost" indices), environmental aspects ("water withdrawal from the aquifer"; "carbon dioxide emissions" indices), social viewpoint ("vandalism probability of on‐site equipment"; "equity of agricultural water distribution" indices), and technical considerations (such as "efficiency of water distribution" index). The hydrodynamic simulation model was developed and calibrated to simulate water distribution in Qazvin Irrigation District, central Iran, in the status quo. Five practical systems—including manual operation (A1, A2), Hydro‐mechanical gates (A3), and automatic operation (A4, A5)—were developed in MATLAB and integrated the hydrodynamic model. Agricultural water distribution practices are conducted for individual alternatives A1–A5, and the SDGs indices were determined quantitatively. The multi‐criteria decision‐making method was used to rank the indices based on their compliance with the SDGs indices. TOPSIS method was employed in non‐fuzzy status and fuzzy state to prioritize the modernization alternatives A1–A5. The relative weights of the indices were determined in a fuzzy state by the opinion of 30 experts, and that of the non‐fuzzy state was specified by the Shannon‐Entropy method. The results show that using the Shannon‐Entropy method, the "aquifer harvest index" with the weight of 0.16 is the most influential factor to meet the SDGs and the "vandalism probability of on‐site equipment" index with 0.028 weight is the least active index. The final results indicate that the modernization alternatives A1–A5 are scored 0.35, 0.33, 0.30, 0.68, and 0.70, respectively, in the TOPSIS technique, and 0.29, 0.18, 0.14, 0.40, 0.74 using the fuzzy TOPSIS technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A framework is developed to provide reliable agricultural water distribution. • The framework consists of non-structural alternatives easily implemented in large scale irrigation districts. • Spatial analysis of adequacy, dependability, and equity of water distribution is conducted. • Technical/environmental impacts of the alternatives are evaluated in water shortage scenarios. • Reducing groundwater exploitation and energy consumption is achieved in irrigation districts. The present study's primary objective is to investigate non-structural alternatives' effectiveness in providing a reliable agricultural water distribution in large scale irrigation districts. Accordingly, the following activities were conducted to accomplish the objective: i) developing an operation model of non-structural alternatives in MATLAB; ii) developing a simplified hydraulic flow simulation model in MATLAB, capable of being integrated the operation model. iii) operational performance appraisal of the developed model under the normal and water shortages scenarios, iv) spatial analysis of the obtained results with GIS to determine each alternatives' effectiveness. The developed model was tested on a real test case, extensive irrigation districts located in central Iran. Analysis of the obtained results reveals that employing the first to third non-structural alternative improved the mean value of the daily water distribution adequacy index by 6–8%, 10–11%, and 5–7% in the normal scenario, 4–5%, 8–7%, and 3–4% in the water scarcity scenario, compared to the water distribution process in the status quo. Besides, the alternatives lead to improving water distribution equity even under the water scarcity scenarios, where the equity improved by 10, 12, and 8% for the first through third alternatives compared to the status quo. Besides the technical assessment, a comprehensive evaluation concerning the non-structural alternatives' effectiveness was conducted, based on the environmental, agricultural, and social effects of these alternatives, to provide practical results. The latter assessment reveals that the second alternative's implementation is expected to lead to a remarkable 12% annual water extraction reduction from the aquifer, decommissioning about 1694 of the 14,440 authorized tube-wells within the district, and a 14.3% reduction in energy consumption. The results showed acceptable improvement in irrigation water distribution by employing non-structural alternatives under normal operating conditions and little improvement under water scarcity scenarios. It was shown that, given the limited infrastructure available in the irrigation districts in developing countries, improving operation management does not necessarily need massive investments in renovating and modernizing these districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]