Assessing the awareness and attitude of employees of water-related organizations towards the cultural values of water

One of the most important reasons for doing this research is to show that water should not be considered as a mere commodity with an institutional-material value. On the contrary, it has a cultural-nonmaterial value that can be effective in regulating and formulating water policies and management. Due to the emphasis on one dimension of water values and neglect of the other dimensions in water resources management, there are profound shortcomings in understanding diverse water value systems and water resources management. The purpose of this research is to examine the awareness and attitude of the employees of water-related institutions and organizations and show the importance of water values. To determine this, the present study distinguishes between two types of institutional-material value and cultural-nonmaterial value. The present quantitative research uses the survey method and questionnaire to collect data. In this study, water department employees were selected using quota sampling. The results indicate that there is a distinction between the positions of cultural values (cultural-nonmaterial values) and institutional-material values (water as a consumer goods) according to the administrative organizations and their employees. In fact, the orientation of employees of water organizations was mostly towards institutional-material values.