Narrative analysis of the Iranian scientific and political elites on the water crisis of Urmia Lake

Protecting water resources is inherently a social and political process because it is part of the control and modification processes in the hydrological cycle. This paper aims to study the narrative of Iranian scientific and political elites involved in the Urmia Lake crisis to go beyond the obvious aspects of this crisis and seek for bigger issues linked to the water governance and its political economy. For this purpose, 23 available persons were selected for deep interview. Then, by using thematic analysis, we extracted, classified and categorized the data. Out of 26 primary categories we have found 7 categories which is creating and Continues water crisis in Urmia Lake basin including: " Engineering the social matter", "Island Policy-making Approach", "Minimizing the Scope of Responsibilities", "Incomplete and contradictory Laws", "Water as a Tool of Legitimacy", "Destructive Efficiency" and "Renti economy". The results show that three factors of "theoric-practical reductionism", "bureaucratic labyrinth" and "cancerous development" can be identified as the main features of the decision-making system that created, continued and intensified the Urmia Lake crisis. The present study indicates that the revival of Urmia Lake requires a major overhaul in the management and legal system of water resources.