Attitude Changes’ Investigation in the Iran's Parliamentary Laws towards Integrated Management of Urban Water/Wastewater

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the attitude changes of integrated management of urban water/wastewater in the Iran's parliamentary laws since the Constitutional Revolution. During this period, the National Parliament and the Islamic Parliament have ratified eight and ten laws regarding this field, respectively. According to the obtained results, water resources and wastewater collection have been considered more than other sections of the cycle and wastewater treatment sector has had the lowest frequency. In this regard, the main attitude of the laws and the presented solutions have been "political". In addition, before the Islamic Revolution, there were no laws with a "preventive and protective" approach and none of the laws provided an "educational-promotional" solution. However, after the Islamic Revolution, this important and effective approach has been considered in some laws. The initial national authorities for water distribution and treatment were the Municipality and the Ministry of Health, respectively; however, the major responsibilities of this sector were left to the Ministry of Energy since its establishment in 1974. In the first years after the Islamic Revolution, the Ministry of Energy was still responsible for this field and no new authority had been created. About a decade later, the holding of National Water and Wastewater Company formed as the head of authority and the provincial companies were created as its subsets, which was the milestone of integrated urban water and wastewater management in the country; the original nature of this authority has been preserved so far since its formation.