Designing A Model of Integrated Policy for Water Governance in Iran

The water crisis in different parts of Iran recounts an ambiguous and challenging future. Although the drought and rainfall in recent years have had some share in this crisis, much of the blame has to be placed on policy and governance issues. This study is aimed at designing an integrated policy for water governance in Iran. In this research, the process of water governance in Iran and several countries has been studied and the existing harms in water resources management have been investigated using a thematic analysis approach. We conducted a semi-structured interviews with 19 Iran’s executives and academic experts in the field of water resources. The results indicate that in general, there are three gaps in policy formulation and implementation; governance, policy and operational.  As for main strategies, the country is faced inadequacies in areas of resource management, participatory governance, water economy, executive platform improvement, macro management, water demand management, water supply management, scientific capacity building, customer orientation and culture building. Finally, after collecting and analyzing the data, the optimal model of water governance was designed.