The Analysis of Water Crisis Conjecture in Iran and The Exigent Measures for Its Management

In this study an attempt is made to analyse and investigate the phenomenon of water crisis of Iran in both aspects of demand for and supply of water in toto and in turn draw the attention of policy makers on the importance of water resources management, vis-à-vis providing the comparative data, to the public. In this context, we have tried first to examine the international water indices and then explore the world outlook of water crises for 2050, Ipso facto. However the result of this research indicate prima facie, that the agricultural sector in the present set-up, has utilized more than 90 percent of water consumption of Iran. But due to structural drawbacks governing the agricultural sector, growing trend of population, rise in consumption of foodstuff, intensified constraints on exploitation of underground water resources, and Ex- inefficiency of water consumption in Iran, the trade deficit of this sector, has reached more than 8 billion dollars per annum. Nonetheless, in consonance with this study, it is obvious that, in the absence of implementing an appropriate policy framework for management of water resources, Iran could face a severe water crisis, and if the current level of consumption of water, increases dramatically, these appaling circumstances will get worse and subsequently the security and economic indices will be deteriorated, sine qua non. Thus, improvement of demand management for water, particularly in agricultural sector through observing the optimal pattern of cropping in national- regional level, and more emphasis on application of virtual water index for finding the best pattern of production and trade for agricultural products and delineating more attention to the economic value of water, could pave the way to resolve the water crisis of Iran pro rata.