Shortage of water RESOURCES and successive droughts are one of the most important types of problems caused by climate changes and governmental activities that will undoubtedly cause great disputes in the future. Global water crisis, drought and famine and their effects have made governments to make their utmost effort to control and use GROUNDWATER RESOURCES. GROUNDWATER, as one of the main and most important water RESOURCES in Iran, is a major supplier of drinking, agricultural, and industrial water and has an important role in economic growth. Historical changes of water laws from 1928 so far, not only have not been in conformity with modern circumstances, but also have increased violations and reduced power and authority of sovereignty over the water. The process began and strengthened with the law of equitable distribution of water and subsequent laws. The laws has led to a situation that despite the legal decisions, a large number of illegal wells was made during the period of 1994 to 2005. There are still more than 250 thousand illegal wells in the current situation (Mazaheri and Abdulmanafi, 2015) and there is an incentive to continue these activities and increasing violations. In spite of the weaknesses in the legislation, the capacity and powers of the existing laws are not used properly and a remarkable part of the intentions of the legislator is not met. In the law of equitable distribution of water, no new decree has been issued regarding to the private ownership of water RESOURCES, except GROUNDWATER. Whether beneath a private land or public land, water is absolutely a joint asset that people can own by obtaining permission from the government. In fact, what has changed with the adoption of new rules is the issue of water resource allocationand private ownership of water RESOURCES still remains. However, the assumption of ownership of the water in the law of equitable distribution of water does not mean absolute ownership of holders. Since the fluid nature of GROUNDWATER prevents the physical possession of the underground source by the holder, it can be said that traditional rules of use of GROUNDWATER do not generally provide any right of ownership that the holder can appeal to the legal system. Based on the studies of ministry of energy, different regions of the country have been divided into two forbidden and free zones in terms of the possibility of exploiting underground water. In free zones, individuals can submit a written request to the regional water companies in each province to get a license for digging wells or constructing subterranean and exploiting underground water RESOURCES for any purposes. The use of GROUNDWATER RESOURCES up to 25 cubic meters per day for domestic, drinking, sanitation, and watering use does not need a permit in these areas and people can only use up to the abovementioned figure by informing the Ministry of Energy. In the forbidden zone, licensing well digging for industrial and civil projects of government with the approval of the Ministry of Energy and drinking water supply for cities, towns and villages with the offer of relevant ministries or their affiliated organizations. Industrial and drinking water, livestock and poultry health water supply with the certificate issued by the competent authorities will be possible based on the water facilities and the approval of the Ministry of Energy. Obvious point about the law is that tens of thousands of different beneficiaries didn’ t see it necessary to make use of law for getting legal license. Because offenders, within three decades of experience, have found that regulated well digging leads to government’ s supervision over their destiny and endless harassment upon them. This is the process that began and strengthened with the equitable distribution of water and subsequent laws. One of the opportunities created in forbidden areas for well digging licensing is related to livestock and greenhouse units. Experience has proven that these licenses are solely a certificate to permit legal well digging and investigations show an overdraft of more than 60 to 70 percent of these units. It can be asserted that more than 60% of these units have virtually no greenhouse or livestock activities and just tremendously extract water and continue traditional agriculture and high-consuming activities (in term of water). In many cases, the owners have used the value added of converting rain-fed land around wells to water-fed lands and try to sell with high prices.

Aims: The trend of withdrawal from GROUNDWATER RESOURCES in Kashan plain has been increased during the recent 40 years. For example, the number of deep wells has been increased from 67 in 1965 to 927 in 2003. As a result, the well discharges and water quality have been diminishing. Hence, this research was aimed to study the salinity variation modeling in Kashan plain GROUNDWATER resource. Materials and Methods: This descriptive research was done based on recorded data for some wells in Kashan plain. First, the data from 112 wells were considered then, 16 wells with more complete data were selected for analysis. Total dissolved solids (TDSs) were considered as the salinity index. Results: The results showed that, in Kashan plain, the mean of salinity has been increased from 1190 mg/L to more than 1400 mg/L during 7 years. Although the salinity has been somewhat less after each annual precipitation, the trend is upward. Minimum and maximum of TDS were identified taken samples from wells number 27 and 47, respectively. Maximum rate of salinity was found in wells number 53 and 55, while the minimum was related to well number 54. Conclusions: The GROUNDWATER salinity in Kashan plain has an upward trend. The GROUNDWATER salinity can be related to some major factors such as distance from Salt Lake, less annual precipitation, and more withdrawal from the aquifer in the recent decades. Since the later can be managed withdrawal, especially for agricultural activities have to be minimized as the most effective way for prevention of the GROUNDWATER quality degradation.

IntroductionWater quality refers to the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality are related to health of ecosystems, safety of human contact and drinking water. Some studies have focused only on chlorides alone without considering the nitrates. Reports of harmful effects for human health have been reported only for nitrates.

Considering the relative good potential of ground water in Gharesoo basin, compared to surface water, quantitative and qualitative studies of ground water RESOURCES in this area is very important. Followed by the basic studies such as effective pollutant RESOURCES, the qualitative studies were done on the selected places. The test points were consisted of deep and semi-deep wells. The distribution of these stations on the basis of uniform distribution has affected the Gharesoo sub-basins and pollutant RESOURCES. Thus 57 stations were chosen for sampling. Because of small variation of qualitative parameters of ground water, sampling in both wet (Ordibehesht month) and dry periods (Mehr month) and nessesary qualitative tests of samples were done. The tests consisted of anions, cations, colliforms, EC, TDS, BOD and COD. The results indicated increased rate of pollutants toward the north west or exit point of the Gharesoo basin and this was coordinated with decreasing the depth of ground water and its direction of movement. Furthermore, in more than 90 percent of places, quality of water was suitable for agriculture and drinking. The main reasons for the low quality of water for agriculture and drinking was high EC and TDS parameters in the proximity of Gharesoo exits. On the basis of Gibbs Diagram and ratio of Ca to Mg ions (less than one), dolomite minerals are dominant.

Water RESOURCES management requires a careful evaluation of the volume of water RESOURCES and understanding of environmental processes governing these RESOURCES. This planning can be achieved only by knowing the characteristics of water quality and quantity that can make an optimal utilization of water RESOURCES. This study consists of GROUNDWATER quality and quantity of Kerman province, and provides guidelines useful for evaluating the consequences of aquifer’s abstraction and other possible problems. Therefore, all information on meteorological, hydrological, hydro geological, geological and geographical data was collected and analyzed. Isocheimal maps and GROUNDWATER table maps of Kerman province plains were drawn by using ArcGIS software and then, over- extraction, water table decline rate, excess discharge, as well as chemical changes of aquifers have been determined. The results showed that in all plains the GROUNDWATER levels have been declining during recent years, so that from 2001-2002 to 2006-2007 hydrological years, on average, water tables have been declining 90 cm each year. The results from this research indicate that aquifer over extraction has led to several impacts including GROUNDWATER quality variation, salt-water intrusion, declines in GROUNDWATER RESOURCES, variation in aquifer hydrodynamic properties, inevitable deepening of wells, dry-up of discharge points (wells, springs and Qantas), increase in energy consumption for GROUNDWATER extraction, enhancement of susceptibility to drought, ground subsidence, the occurrence of cracks and joints in buildings and, lastly, upsetting the natural ecosystem and dry-out of gardens. Furthermore, assuming the past and present trends in any plains will continue in the future, the status of aquifers in the next 10 years has been determined. These forecasts indicate that, if no drastic actions are undertaken, the province will not only be faced with the above-mentioned environmental impacts much more severely, but also encounter economic and social problems. Finally, in this research, a complete list of suggestions has been put forward regarding GROUNDWATER RESOURCES management.

Optimum use of renewable water RESOURCES is one of the economical goals of the governments. Sustainable development was considered as an active design process by the farmer that should focus on creating and maintaining adaptive capacities in order to tune the farm system to an everchanging environment. Because sustainability involves social, ecological and economic aspects, the farmer must be enabled to integrate soft and hard parameters in decision-making. The objective of the research described in this paper was to develop a model that helps decision makers to design a sustainable agricultural system. Mathematical programming (MP) has been a widely used tool for studying and analyzing agricultural systems. As a result of this study of water sustainable agriculture, we present lessons for future project development and policy formulation and reform. The results indicate that, with improving of irrigation efficiency, GROUNDWATER RESOURCES level will be increased.

A critical GROUNDWATER (GW) shortage in the Mahvalat Plain (MP) is alarming. As GW is the sole source of freshwater in the area, the objectives of this study are to survey and asses its current status, and to set a strategy for balancing the recharge and withdrawals to achieve the sustainable management of the most precious resource. The mean annual withdrawal and recharge of 48 production wells and 3 strings of aqueducts (Qanats) during the 1665-2008 period were 254 million m3 (Mm3) and 157 Mm3, respectively. This 97 Mm3 annual deficit resulted in the mean annual decline of the water table by 1.35 m during the same period. Chemical analyses of water samples from 48 wells and 3 strings of aqueducts indicate that the electrical conductivity (EC) increased from 0.17 s/m to more than1.5 s/m form the northeastern part of the MP towards its margins. Moreover, salinity, SAR and Sodium percentage of most samples made them unsuitable for irrigation. To achieve a sustainable management of the most precious resource, i.e., water, the solutions include: Restriction of the pumping hours according to the directives of the local water authorities to decrease the mean annual of 121 Mm3, Reduction of the irrigated fields by 2.3 of the current practice, Installation of sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, Practicing advanced surface irrigation methods, Amortization of the wells with an EC of more than 0.75s/m of their water by the Government and closing them completely, and installation of smart water meters on the remaining productions wells and their continuous monitoring.