Developing Criteria, as Key solution for Sustainable Groundwater Withdrawal

Groundwater is a vital source of water supply in Iran. Sustainable utilization of groundwater is an inevitable necessity. In many watersheds, overexploitation and neglecting the reasonable criteria for sustainable use of groundwater led to groundwater-dependent ecosystems destruction and many other inevitable losses. Due to the importance of this issue and because of the climate conditions similarity between Iran and California State, in this study the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was analyzed. SGMA introduced six criteria for sustainable use of groundwater. To achieve the sustainable groundwater resources, all watersheds must develop their groundwater sustainable plan based on these six criteria. The primary results of the studies by California Department of Water Resources (DWR) have been shown that in most of the watersheds, the groundwater withdrawal exceeded the minimum threshold. Therefore, a long-term (25 year) program for achieving sustainable groundwater management goal must be developed. In Iran, it is also urgent to define a planned sustainability goal for all aquifers in the watersheds.