Evaluation of inter-basin water transfer projects based on development potential of the donor basin at Sirwan Basin, Kurdistan, Iran

In basins where the water demands surpasses the available resources, water shortage crisis occurs and the deficiency balance is essential to be reciprocated. In such basins, inter-basin water transfer has been announced as a method to supply new water resources. In such projects the potential of donor and recipient basins are not assessed properly. In this study, the inter-basin water transfer project from Sirwan to Sefidrood and Karkheh basins was evaluated. The assessment is based on the ability of donor basin to meet current needs and maintain water resources for future development. For this purpose, while the areas prone in the basin were identified, different scenarios were defined for agricultural development and water consumption in the Sirwan basin. In determining agricultural development scenarios the quantitative criteria with the utmost impact on the development of agricultural land were identified as maps in the GIS software. Water consumption scenarios were determined based on estimated net irrigation requirement for agricultural crops using Cropwatt software. The results showed that the basin enjoys a high potential for agricultural development. So that the annual water restoration will be less than the future water needs in the basin. These results advocate the need to reassess the inter-basin water transfer projects in Iran.