Iran's geopolitical, economic, and social factors have significantly impacted international water resources alongside climatic influences in recent years. Consequently, identifying and implementing strategies to address a potential water crisis in the Harirud region has become crucial. This research primarily aims to uncover the factors influencing integrated water management in the Harirud basin. The findings will enhance decision-makers and policymakers' understanding of water resource utilization and management behaviors during drought periods. The sustainable development model serves as the theoretical framework for this study. The statistical sample comprises 12 interviewers and 128 subject-related experts, selected through a multi-stage technique with proportional allocation. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that geopolitical-hydrodynamic, technical-economic, institutional-legal, social-cultural, and infrastructural-physical variables exert the most significant influence on the adoption of water resource management policies. Practically, this research advocates for Integrated Basin Water Management (IBWM), with results offering vital policy implications to assist decision-makers in conserving international water resources.

Harirud river with an international nature is shared between Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan and currently there is no treaty among these states regarding the division of its water resources. In recent years, after the construction of the Doosti Dam by Iran and Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, as an upstream state is moving towards hydro-hegemonic policy in the region by building various dams which restrain and divert the water flow of this river in order to decrease the downstream countries’ water rights. On the other hand, due to the high importance of Harirud water resources for Iran, continuing this type of behavior by Afghanistan might cause conflicts and create security risks among these countries in the near future. Therefore, employing a descriptive-analytical approach, the study aims at examining the issue according to international legal documents in the field of sharing common water resources. Finally, the findings indicate that the best and most practical method for exploitation of Harirud water resources is based on the theory of limited territorial sovereignty and implementation of the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization of common water resources by Afghanistan, without causing significant harm to downstream states.

Water, a vital element for socio-spatial sustainability, has emerged as a central issue in geopolitics in recent decades due to factors such as climate change, population growth, and economic development. This applied research, employing a descriptive-analytical approach, investigates the primary drivers influencing the transformation of watershed governance systems within the hydropolitical context of the transboundary Harirud River. The main objective of this study is to identify and analyze the key drivers shaping the future of hydropolitical relations in this watershed. The findings reveal four primary drivers: a focus on socio-economic issues aligned with the hydropolitical objectives of water resources, an emphasis on local water governance, coordinated management of  transboundary watersheds, and the utilization of indigenous knowledge, rainwater harvesting, and flood management. These drivers, identified by experts, are the most critical factors influencing hydropolitical relations in the Harirud watershed. The results underscore the necessity of a comprehensive and integrated approach to watershed governance that encompasses social, institutional, international, and technical dimensions. The findings highlight the critical importance of these drivers in ensuring regional water sustainability and security, mitigating potential conflicts, and facilitating transboundary cooperation for the optimal and sustainable management of shared water resources in the Harirud watershed.

In recent years, population growth and economic development all around the world has led to an increase in water demand and it has been a serious challenge to its management, particularly, in Shared River Basins. Game theory is one of the most substantial means of conflict resolution and reaching equilibrium in a system. In the present study, the players' strategies were analyzed through the non-cooperative approach of game theory in the shared basin of Harirud. At first, a comprehensive linear programming model was developed to calculate the player's net profit. Then the players profit was calculated considering the defined non-cooperative scenario. In the next step, the players’ strategy was carried out using different approaches to analyze each of these methods and their stability. The concept of intensive compensation was also used to examine the possibility of changing the Afghanistan's approach from non-cooperative to cooperative. The results showed that in non-cooperative approach, Iran's profit is reduced from 7. 8 million dollars to 44 million dollars that is about 45 percent. Similarly, the intensive compensation approach can change the strategy of Afghanistan from noncooperative to cooperative. Therefore, according to Pareto's optimality, it is possible to increase 40 percent of Iran's profits without reducing profits in Afghanistan.

River basin organizations (RBOs) are organizational bodies that set the ground for the Integrated Water Resources Management approach in the scale of a basin. The forms and missions of such organizations are different in different river basins and their performances are affected by different factors. The first and only experience in Iran regarding the establishment of an RBO is the Zayandehrud River Basin Council which was established in 2013. The Council then transformed to the Zayendehrud Restoration Working Group in 2019. This study aimed at assessing the performance of the Zayandehrud Council in the six years of its existence using a performance assessment framework developed in the study. The data needed were gathered through documents, questionnaires, field investigations and interviews. The performance of the Council was assessed in three dimensions of “efficiency”, “effectiveness”, and “learning”. In terms of efficiency, the results showed that the Council suffered from lack of professional human capacity and has not been successful in implementing the river basin management. Collaborative participation was missing in the Council. Furthermore, sectorial thinking and mistrust dominated. There were also lack of binding and accountability mechanisms in the Council and in the associated organizations responsible to implement its approvals. According to the effectiveness dimension, the Council decisions were not affected by the basin hydrological conditions, rather they were mostly influenced by the expected available water to adjust water allocations. The Council was also unsuccessful in resolving social challenges and sometimes even reaching decisions in the Council’s meetings was hindered by such challenges. According to the learning dimension, the Council was not authorized to check the persisting rules, neither was it allowed to modify the overarching taken decisions and policies. Thus, the learning process has ended to destructive results.

With all the importance of water in the economy Iran is, every year floods volumes high of waters and Prolific soils of the country and access out to the desert, lakes and seas delivers. Kashkan River Basin of sub basins important is basin Karkheh. This study examines the changes in annual rainfall, trend the Runoff, rainfall- runoff, frequensity rainfall 24 hours and intensity in the catchment bastion of rainfall in basin Level is very different. And according to Local water conditions and topographical features of the high zagros mountains- rainfall received in the basin every different despite the stability of average annual rainfall, annual runoff coefficient of the additive is steep and significant. Comparison average first decade and second decade period 29 years showed the annual runoff coefficient in the second decade of the first decade has increased 84 percent. Increased runoff and flood in recent years, only to cause precipitation of quantitative terms, no matter what, but is seems that other factors such as land use changes, deforestation, degradation of Grassland into Agricultural land, urban development, rural housing development and the impact of flooding has increased dramatically in rural areas. It is expected that more severe floods occurrence. The monthly distribution of rainfall in the basin suggest that the rainfall on the basin at the end the year is cold. Instead of the heat loss due to weather condititions generally are extremely liquid and became a flood.

Many river basins that supported hydraulic civilizations for thousands of years are being converted into a very unsustainable and fragile ecosystems. This process threatens the basis of sustainable development of communities settled in these river environments. The major questions of this paper are as follows: 1-How have the basins been changed into unsustainable environments? 2-What are the guidelines to direct river basin development and management towards sustainability? 3-What would be a study model for planning sustainable river basin development and management ?

In recent years, in order to revive the Urmia lake and preventing the negative environmental impacts, the water transfer project from Zab River to Urmia Lake has being studied and implemented. In this paper, it is tried to assess the possibility of morphological changes of Zab River due to implement of project at the downstream of Kanisev dam. The research method is mainly analytical method.The data of this study include Geological map of 1/100000 scale, areal photographs, LANDSAT 8 (ETM sensor) satellite imagery, GDEM images of ASTER with resolution of 15 meter, meteorological data and hydrological surface water of the under study area.The data were collected using libraries and referred to agencies and organizations, web sites and field surveys. Results showed that after water impoundment of Kanisev dam and transferring water to Urmia Lake, the average of the Zab River discharge in the hydrometric station of Grzhal will decrease from 1464.72 to 653.42 million cubic meters per year and the bed river at downstream will decrease drastically. So that in September and October. Zab bed river from dam wall to the Abkhorah tributary will be dried approximately. The decline of flow will cause changes of the morphological indexes such as cross-section and longitudinal-section and hydrological features similar to depth and velocity of flow. With reduction of discharge at the downstream of Kanisev dam, at A section, the flow of river will pass of the deepest bed river in which new terraces, narrowing cross-section, remove the side vegetation or retreat to far from will occur. At B section, the power of flow will focus toward the side of the river and also cut-off them, finally lead to fill the pothole using deposition. At the last section, C, with increasing distance from Kanisev dam and enhance sediment load rather than transport capacity, both depth and width of the bed river due to creation the point bars along flow and sedimentation at the sides will decrease.

Lag time is a parameter that appears often in theoretical and conceptual models associated with river basin. The river basin lag time is an important factor in linear modeling of river basin response. Generally, all hydrologic analyses require at least one of the time parameters of river basin and, in the majority of cases, time of concentration or lag time are used. In this research, storm data from 6 stations in the North Karoon river basin (in Iran) were analyzed. From this analysis, 23 events were selected. Then, in one experimental sub-basin located in this river basin, the lag time was calculated using field method. In this method, performed in the Darehbeed - Samsami study area, lag time was computed from a hydrograph generated by discharge measurement of a triangular scaled spillway. After that, 23 events were divided into two groups, including, one for a newly developed empirical model (70 percent) and another for validation of this model (30 percent). The results obtained from this research based on coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and relative error (%RE) statistical measures showed that the agreement between the computed (from new empirical model) and measured data is good.

Geomorphic indices of active tectonics are useful tools to analyze the influence of active tectonics in an area. These indices have the advantage of being calculated using ArcGIS and RS (Remote Sensing) packages over large areas as a reconnaissance tool to identify geomorphic anomalies possibly related to active tectonics. This is particularly valuable in Great Karoun River Basin of Zagros, where relatively little work on active tectonics based on this method was done. The study area in central Zagros fold- thrust-belt of the southwestern Iran is an area with NW–SE oriented structures provides an ideal location for testing the concept of an index to predict relative tectonic activity on a basis of river system or mountain front. Based upon values of the stream length-gradient index (SL), drainage basin asymmetry (Af), hypsometric integral (Hi), ratio of valley-floor width to valley height (Vf), index of drainage basin shape (Bs), and index of mountain front sinuosity (Smf), overall index as index of relative active tectonic (Iat) was resulted that is a combination of the other indices. This indices are used to divide the landscape into four classes of relative tectonic activity. After measuring indices it is concluded that this part of the Zagros zone has variable rates of active tectonics. Based on corrected Iat values, the study area was divided into three parts: class 1 (very high relative tectonic activity, %24 in area; such as some parts of the east and central zone where Main Zagros Reverse Fault and Dezful embayment fault have the most influence); class 2 (high relative tectonic activity, 63% in area; such as most parts of the area in east, west, north and center where action of faults are lower than the previous class); class 3(moderate, 10% in area; such as most parts of the area in north and south where action of faults are the lowest). Therefore, we don’t have class 4 in this area, and 1% of basin is not measured for the indices because it is located in coastal plain of Khuzestan.