Reflection on Ecological Modernization Process through the use of Smart Meter in Iran's Groundwater Distribution Sector

The deficit of underground water reservoirs in Iran has exceeded 130 billion cubic meters. This is while the water government in Iran has been trying to balance the underground water reservoirs by introducing smart meter technology into the water governance network since 2004. This policy could be an effective effort for the benefit of the environment. However, the project to control the use of underground water reservoirs with the continuation of the process of making water distribution smart and trying to reduce the amount of extraction from wells in the “restoration and balancing plan” of the country's underground water resources from 2013 has been also unsuccessful. The ideal prospects of “the document on adapting to water shortage”, which has been announced based on the previous plans since May 2021, have not yet yielded any results as well. Since the introduction of a nature-friendly technology into the water governance network can be considered an idea in line with the process of Ecological Modernization(EM), this article has tried to explain the problems of making it compulsory to install smart meters on agricultural wells by using evaluation tools of EM. In this article, EM process in Iran's water governance was analyzed in different sectors of the market, innovation and technology, government, civil society and environmental awareness. Based on the qualitative model of the evaluation of the ecological modernization process, the environmental result of this process in the country was placed in the very weak stage of such modernization with a score of 5 out of 50 for the complete achievement of EM. The final result of the policy analysis of installing smart meters in Iran is that the water governance and stakeholders’ network is not fully prepared for such a technology-oriented transformation in the water distribution process. Considering the super-critical condition of underground water in Iran, by maintaining the process of ecological renovation, the 45 points not obtained in the evaluation of the environmental result of this project can be compensated with a social approach and according to the participatory principles of the process of ecological renovation.