Evaluation of Karun River Water Salinity Reduction Strategies Using Management Scenarios

Karun River poses the largest and longest river of Iran that its water Salinity has been decreased in recent years owing to pollutant sources loading. The aim of this study is evaluating management practices to reduce river salinity in form of removal and reduction scenarios of point contaminant sources ranging from Mollasani to Farsiat (most critical range of population, industrial and agricultural density) using MIKE11 model. Reduction scenario results showed that the scenario of reducing from upstream boundary at the end of study area is influential on river salinity with the average reduction of 35.10 and 26.10% in wet and dry seasons, respectively. Results related to the simulation of combined options implied that the 52% reduction scenario from upstream boundary together with decreased point sources by 30% in both wet and dry seasons, respectively, with an average salinity of 60 and 46% outperform other options to reduce the river salinity. Comparing the results of premier scenarios with standard water salinity limits showed that in both wet and dry seasons, standard limit conditions connected with drinking and agricultural water could be met. The outcomes of this research demonstrate that rivers water quality can be increased by employing contaminant sources management strategies.