Design of Appropriate Institutional Arrangements Pattern for Integrated Management of Water Resources

System of water resource management in the country has been seeking solutions for water issues through technical engineering, water transfer, damming, and constructional projects. However, the main problem of water resources in the country is the existence of bad and undesirable governance and the inefficient management system. Inappropriate institutional arrangements, disconnected management, lack of transparency, and lack of stakeholders’ involvement in management are among the characteristics of the current water resource management system in the country. The purpose of the present study is to develop institutional arrangements pattern for the integrated management of the groundwater resources at the macro level. To this aim, with using the analytical method of grounded theory, interviewing professors, experts, and pundits, and conducting relevant analyzes, the final pattern of institutional arrangements was developed along with its details for the better governance of water resources. The most important results and suggestions of this model include the development of appropriate institutional arrangements, integrated management at the macro level, transfer of management to the people at the basin, increased transparency and accountability, stakeholders’ participation in monitoring and implementation, new irrigation and cultivation practices, more attention to the measures of watershed management and flood spreading, land preparation, and determination of the cropping pattern appropriate to the conditions of each region.