Water crisis and the need to change the pattern of cultivation in arid areas: A case study of the south plains of Bardaskan

Overdraft of groundwater is not replaced by rainfalls, leading to water shortage. This is the phenomenon in most arid regions of Iran as a natural disaster. The south plains of Bardascan are so critical in this regard. Login underground water, pumping technology, traditional culture, and economic development in the region have caused overdrawing water from underground tables. Dropping of the tables is the first and most obvious consequence of this procedure. Dried up fields, change the location of wells, increase in their depth for 250 meters and the occurrence of cracks in the surface of the plains are the subsequent consequences. In this study, using the data of pisometri (20012-2013), the on-going water crisis in the region is proven. The proof is also based on unit hydrograph and maps of groundwater. Then, reference is made to the necessity of changing the pattern of cultivation. In this context, Boolean model using GIS is employed to locate two economically important crops in the region, namely pistachio and saffron. The results of the study show that, due to severe water crisis in the region, growing crops with less water requirement and high efficiency will be quite wise. Also, the results of localizing Holy Land prone to cultivate these two products show that, of a total of 1328 km2 of the plain, 44% in the southeast and the west of the plain is appropriate for pistachios, and 25% mainly in the east and northeast of the plain is suitable for cultivation of saffron.