Assessing Environmental Flow Regime in Kor River: A Holistic Approach Using System Dynamics Modeling

In recent decades, the unprecedented lack of water resources, contamination and ecosystem degradation in many parts of the world have forced researchers and policy makers to devote more efforts to maintain and restore the health of water associated systems to achieve a balance between human and nature. Human efforts to maintain full natural flows have had implications on the functions and biodiversity of river systems. Lake Bakhtegan and Kor River have been degrading in recent years due to the lack of environmental protection efforts. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive top-down methodology for assessing the environmental flow of Kor River. Adopting the methodology based on the system dynamics approach, the paper will estimate the environmental flow requirement of the river under different scenarios and explores its consequences on the socio-economic part of the basin. It was observed that by supplying the water needed by the natural system, the resources available for economic development would decrease, impacting particularly the level of agricultural development. The current trends which are dominating the basin will result in deterioration of water resources and complete destruction of ecosystems.