Factors Affecting Water Resources Sustainable Management among Irrigated Wheat Growers in Kouhdasht County

Nowadays, water crisis as one of the most challenges of agricultural development in Iran and especially in areas such as Kouhdasht county in the Lorestan province, have created the necessity for attention to integrated water resources planning and more studies in this field. Therefore, the main purpose of this survey research was to investigate factors affecting the sustainable management of water resources. Statistical population includes irrigated wheat growers in Kouhdasht county (N = 2500) that 237 of them were determined as a statistical sample by using Cochran formula. Sampling was conducted byproportional stratified method. Questionnaire's reliability and validity was confirmed respectively through computing Cronbach's alpha coefficient (more than 0.7) and content validity. Data analyzed by SPSS software. According to correlation test results, there is a positive and significant relationship between sustainable water resources management and following variables: annual income of the agricultural sector; total area of wheat farm; training given to farmers and the perception of farmers about crisis water. The results of path analysis show that based on direct and indirect effects, five variables: 1) Training given to farmers 2) Technical characteristics of the farm 3) The perception of farmers about crisis water 4) The system of water management of resources to farm, and 5) Farmers’ demographic, economic and social characteristics have the highest effect on sustainable water management practices by irrigated wheat growers in Kouhdasht county.