Investigating The Effect of Economic Growth On Water Resources Consumption; In The Framework of The Environmental Kuznets Curve EKC (Case Study: Selected Countries 1992-2012)

The aim of this research is to set out to answer that, in the selected countries that are facing the challenge of drought and shortage of water, what kind of relationship exists between economic growth and water consumption. The method of this research is both descriptive and regression-oriented and is carried out by investigating the panel data statistics of some 60 countries during the years 1992-2012 and via the panel data analysis method. The gentility of the research lies in achieving the relationship between per capita economic growth and per capita water consumption in Iran. The findings of the research show that there exists a bell-shaped relationship between the economic growth and the consumption of water, such that with increases in the per capita income, the water consumption rises to the point which is the point of maximum of the foregoing bell, and as the economic growth continues, the consumption falls further and further short of the maximum. Moreover, the rate of urbanization has been found to have a considerable influence on the water consumption.