Classification of Villages Based on Maintenance and Supply of Drinking Water (Case Study: Central District of Minoodasht Township)

IntroductionAccording to world population growth that is over 6 billion people, drinking water supply in cities and villages is one of the concerns of politicians and residents, so the 21st century is named century of water stress or hydrological stress. One of the goals of World Water organization will be supplying the drinking water for all until 2025. It is worth mentioning that highest population had no access to safe drinking water live in Asia and Africa and are living in villages. In Summary, the concept of risk isknown by probability of loss or uncertainty and the concept of risk managementimplies risk assessment and strategies adopted for risk management. In ideal riskmanagement, there is a prioritization process in order to consider the most loss riskswith highest probability at the beginning and risks with lower probability and lowerrisks at the end. Also searching and site selection risks before their problem is one ofthe steps in this approach. The main purpose of this study is reviewing and studyingof the situation of drinking water resources, identifying and classifying risks to theseresources in phase of maintenance and supply drinking water and finally graded andprioritized rural centers based on the mentioned risks. The study areas in thisresearch are villages located in central district of Minoodasht Township.MethodologyResearch study is descriptive-analytical in survey way. Statistical Societies of study are villages located in central district of Minoodasht and the study sample is those villages that have a governmental body named Dehyary. Required information through the library studies, direct observations and questionnaires completed by 63 Dehyars (head of Dehyary) were collected. Dehyars group was selected because innew system of rural management in our country, Dehyary is considered as aninstitution of rural management, the institution that participation in providing andkeeping safe drinking water is considered as part of its tasks. According to thetheoretical framework, the risks of maintenance and supply drinking water resourcesare categorized in five groups of human agents (management), natural factors,location of source and reservoir, source and reservoir characteristics and risksrelated to water quality. For risk assessment of each class as questions weredesigned in form of Lycret range that total points of them show the situation of eachvillage in that group of risks. It should be noted that about risks related to waterquality due to lack of accurate and complete information about chemical andbacteriology for all the villages inevitably this indicator was not considered andsince this study accent on risks relating to maintenance and supply of drinking waterresources only the physical quality of water from viewpoint of Dhyars considered.The weight of each group as the main indicators of risk in drinking water isconsidered by using AHP model and Expert Choice. Then, according to the weightobtained in this way and the risks of water resources, rural centers were graded andprioritized by using the TOPSIS model.ResultsFrom the 12 villages in the level "a" that their risks are very high, 10 villages are under the authority of Water and Sewage Company. Also from 10 villages in level "e" 9 villages under covered by Water and Sewage Company and also a village isenjoyed from urban water. So it could be said that covering all villages in the regionby the Rural Water and Sewage Company should be considered as an effective stepin reducing risks related to drinking water resources.ConclusionWith attention to obtained results Asefrenjan village has the highest risk and Jangaldeh has the lowest. Also rural centers with attention to risk classification,categorized to very high risk rural centers, high-risk rural centers, rural centers withmoderate risk, low-risk rural centers, very low-risk rural centers groups. Accordingto this scheme, low and very low risk rural centers are under the cover Rural Waterand Sewage Company. This shows the importance of controlling and monitoringthese resources is vital. Certainly aware of the status quo of rural drinking watersources is an important aid to more accurate planning in villages by Dhyars. Finally,it is recommended to identify the status of villages in terms of risk types related todrinking water sources and evaluate them, should design warning systems to beinformative, while it is essential that consistently and in all conditions, continuousmonitoring and control the risks to be considered. Also one should prepare a plan foradvance the health status of rural drinking water supplies with an emphasis on riskmanagement approach and rely on people's participation and attendance as theoperation and in many cases, the main perpetrators water pollutants.