Inhabitants of the arid climate have led to greater use of groundwater. On this basis because of the importance of water resources, the quantity of groundwater in the PLAIN of NEYSHABOUR during 2002 to 2008 was evaluated. Visual MODFLOW software was helpful in this regard. The results showed that hydrodynamic coefficients are relatively high in PLAIN of NEYSHABOUR. This property can be very effective in the fields of artificial recharge projects. Also due to the high correlation between observed and calculated data from the model calibration, results are acceptable in all observation wells. Studies showed that groundwater in the PLAIN of NEYSHABOUR has dropped highly due to the excessive travel, drop in water levels in different regions according to different feeding and discharging aquifer. The map of stone floor level shows that the context of the postal and the mountain aquifer NEYSHABOUR is high and concave mode. Feeding rate calculated in the Binalood lower elevation are more than other areas due to seasonal flooding into this area are flowing of the highlands. The results showed a continuing trend of regional drainage wells in some areas, so groundwater quality and quantity is reduced.

In this study, MODFLOW and MT3DMS codes were used to evaluate changes in groundwater quality in NEYSHABOUR PLAIN under different scenarios. During developing the conceptual model, it was found that the aquifer salinity increased due to the presence of fine alluvium and evaporite minerals in the margins of the PLAIN and agricultural return flow. Groundwater models was calibrated under transient condition for 10 years from October 2001 to September 2011 and validated for a 4-year period (October 2011 to September 2015). Quantitative comparison of the head and Cl data in all the observation points indicated a reasonable match between the observed and the calculated values. The root mean squared error (RMSE) was 1. 92 m and 1. 65 m for the calibration and validation periods in the flow model, and the RMSE was 2 mg/l for the mass transport model in NEYSHABOUR aquifer. The MODFLOW and MT3DMS models were used to simulate the effect of the two scenarios: (1) continue the current trend in groundwater withdrawals and (2) 40% reduction in groundwater withdrawals has been examined by the model. In the first scenario, the average groundwater level showed annual loss of 0. 79 m and increasing in the groundwater salinity. Under the second scenario, which aimed to achieve equilibrium status in the groundwater balance, pumping rate for all wells were reduced by 40%. The results showed that although the average water level in the aquifer does not decrease, the groundwater salinity is still increasing, with a rate of 50% lower than in comparison to the first scenario. This reflects the fact that reduced groundwater withdrawals at the same rate for all wells may not meet water resource management goals and groundwater management requires distributed information about the aquifer.

Monitoring network optimization is a decision making process for the best combination of available stations. Due to economic considerations and reduction of monitoring costs, the optimization approach in this study is to reduce monitoring stations without reducing the amount and accuracy of the information obtained. In this study, an optimal design of groundwater quality monitoring network was carried out with the help of an optimization model in the Neishabour PLAIN aquifer. The optimization of the wells network was accomplished by a Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm. Two objectives containing of minimizing the root mean square error (RMSE) and the number of wells was applied in current research. Kriging interpolation was used for calculating groundwater chlorine concentration values and compared with observation values. As a result of this research was presented a Pareto front exctracted from MOPSO showing the number of wells against their corresponding RMSE, which could be a guide for the design of a groundwater quality monitoring network. The outcome showed that the sampling wells can be reduced to 58 percent with a minimum error increase (all 50 wells in base network with zero error may be reduced to 21 with chlorine concentration error of 13. 57 mg/l) in the Neishabour aquifer. Also, the position of these wells was considered as the optimal position.

Introduction The adaptation of the same water resources management policies in a PLAIN or watershed due to the heterogeneity of its areas generally leads to a reduction in the effectiveness of policies. Hence, the evaluation of the adaptability of different areas of the study area with water resources protection policies can be important and necessary. As a whole, our literature review generally shows that there seem to be no empirical studies that have attempted to consider the economic, demographic, environmental, communication, educational, and cultural criteria in evaluating the adaptability of rural districts of PLAINs or watersheds to groundwater protection policies in the national and international levels. Due to this importance, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the adaptability of rural districts of NEYSHABOUR PLAIN to groundwater protection policies by considering the mentioned criteria. The results of the current study provide valuable information to adopt more comprehensive polices for the protection of groundwater resources in the NEYSHABOUR PLAIN. Furthermore, the findings of this research can be used to simulate economic, social, and environmental models for the case study. Materials and Methode The research methodology of this study consists of three main parts. In the first part, economic, demographic, environmental, educational, and cultural, as well as communication criteria and sub-criteria are selected based on the opinions of experts and the results of previous studies. In the second step, the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria are determined using Chang's fuzzy AHP method. In the next step, the status of each of the rural districts in the NEYSHABOUR PLAIN based on the studied index is determined using a multi-criteria decision-making method (PROMETHEE). The data required for this study are collected from the Statistics Center of Iran, Khorasan Razavi Regional Water Authority, the Khorasan Razavi Agriculture –,Jihad organization. In addition, the required data on the average income of farmers in each rural district are collected through face-to-face interviews with farmers in 2017. Results and discussion The results of this study indicate that most of rural districts in the case study are deprived of access to the educational and cultural as well as communication facilities. Moreover, the level of literacy of farmers in this area is very low. All these factors can be considered an obstacle to the proper implementation of water resources management policies in this area. The results show that economic and environmenral ctritera with weights of 40 and 19%, respectively, are of higher importance compared to other criteria in the adaptability index. According to the results of this study, three the rural districts of Ardoghsh, Mazol, and Zeberkhan have a higher adaptability to groundwater protection policies than other the rural districts of PLAIN, and the rural districts of Ghazali, Eshghabad, and Belherat are in the final ranks. Suggestion In order to increase the cooperation of farmers in the southern and western rural districts of the PLAIN with groundwater conservation programs, it is suggested to use appropriate training and incentive policies as complementary policies in these areas. Also, the implementation of supportive policies that lead to an increase in farmers' incomes in region, can play an important role in increasing the cooperation of farmers with water resources management policies.

The present study evaluated the effect of aquifer exploitation on the quality of groundwater resources in NEYSHABOUR PLAIN (Khorasan Razavi). In this research, the qualitative and quantitative changes in water in observation wells were investigated over a period of 10 years. In order to better understand the changes in water quality, a chemograph diagram and Shuler and Wilcox diagrams were used. According to these diagrams, the quality of underground water in NEYSHABOUR PLAIN varies from good to completely unpleasant for drinking purposes, and about 27% of the samples are in C4-S4 and C4-S3 categories, which are very salty and is not suitable for agriculture. According to the chemograph schematic diagram, the average electrical conductivity had an increasing trend through the years 1389 to 1399 from 3600 micromos/cm to 3800 micromos/cm. The highest values of EC are in the western part of Kal-Shor. Significant amounts of silty-clay sediments with evaporative salts, placement in the catchment basin and small morphological slope have reduced the water quality. The results show that with the excessive use of groundwater in the last ten years, the water level has decreased 1.29 meter on average annually. Based on the results of this study, which indicates the decrease in the groundwater level and water quality in the study area, it can be mentioned that with the current trend, there will be numerous environmental effects, such as the reduction of irrigation or the drying up of springs, qanats, and wells, change of land use, cultivation pattern and land subsidence in the region in the future.

The water shortage crisis that is sweeping the globe today has posed serious harm and threat to people around the world. Meanwhile, Iran is one of the water-scarce countries due to its location in the arid and semi-arid belt and fluctuations in rainfall. The water status in most of its regions is in a state of tension and sometimes crisis. The pervasive nature of water and the existence of numerous human and environmental factors affecting its reliability have greatly complicated the interactions between the human-environmental dimensions. Therefore, the study of these complex environmental systems that are affected by human actions is a major scientific challenge. This challenge must bridge the gap between the natural sciences and the social sciences and dominate modeling at different scales. Therefore, there is a need to integrate knowledge from the natural and social sciences. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to analyze the water crisis and the concept of water security by presenting a framework for Human-Environment System (HES) interactions in the Neishabur PLAIN watershed. In this regard, first, the process of changing the water issue in the Neishabur PLAIN watershed during 2011-2020 was investigated, and then, according to the identification of the prevailing situation in the watershed, considering the influence of various human and natural factors in the current crisis, to identify the main factors affecting the occurrence of the crisis and determining how they interact and feedback for a comprehensive analysis of the water crisis and the consequences of this water shortage in the region. The results of the investigation of the water issue in the area generally show a decrease in precipitation, warming of the air, increase in evaporation and transpiration, dryness, and more dehydration. This is while the largest volume of water harvesting in the basin (ca. 450 million m3 in the 2019-2020 water year) is also dedicated to the agricultural sector. In addition, the results show that understanding the hierarchical levels of environmental awareness and ultimately learning and practice based on key components and interactions identified by the HES framework, facilitates the analysis of system complexity.

In this research, we evaluated the virtual water and water footprint in the agricultural and industrial sectors of NEYSHABOUR PLAIN. By calculating the amount of virtual water in the major groups of agricultural products, the average annual water footprint of agricultural and horticultural products is estimated to be 534. 5 million cubic meters during the years 1393-1383 that consumed blue and green water footprint of this water resource are 91% and 9%, respectively. According to the population of 433, 105 persons, the green and blue water demand for food and drinking water supply in NEYSHABOUR region is 1203. 17 million cubic meters and 35. 28 million cubic meters respectively. The average index of water footprint in the Neyshabur region is estimated to be 2633. 5 million cubic meters per year, which 1079. 3 and 1554. 2 million cubic meters of water are supplied from blue and green water resources. Blue and green water footprint of each person are 2492 and 3589 cubic meters per year. The water footprint of livestock products, agricultural products, drinking and industry expenditures are about 50%, 46%, 3%, 1%, respectively. Blue water scarcity is moderate and about 140%.

Inefficiency of marketing networks of agricultural products and the price differences between sale price by farmers and purchase price by final consumers are the main issues in the marketing of agricultural products. This study aimed mainly at investigating the factors affecting the marketing margins in NEYSHABOUR PLAIN of Iran. For this purpose, within the geographically weighted regression with adaptive cores (GWR-A), the upgraded version of ‘ Mark Up Model’ was used for all crops. Statistics and information were obtained through interviews and questionnaires completed by 366 farmers in 2016. Moran test results showed that there was a positive spatial autocorrelation on the marketing margin of crops. The results of GWR model indicated a positive impact of marketing costs and retail prices in most areas is positive and a negative impact of cultivated areas on the marketing margins. Also, the coefficients of the Mark Up Model were estimated regionally and with respect to farmer’ s location. Finally, a number of suggestions were made, including: reforming the marketing network in order to reduce the margin of the market, using statistical methods based on the location of data in similar studies, reforming the market system and the sale of products based on the development of professional commerce companies, implementing the special information plans related to the market information on agricultural products as well as the implementation of specific cultural and social programs.

Access to fresh groundwater plays an important role in stable crop production and secure livelihood of people living in the NEYSHABOUR PLAIN. Decline in groundwater table and annual aquifer abstraction of more than 200 million cubic meters are the most important challenges in this PLAIN, where about 110,000 ha of agricultural land are cultivated annually and 96% of groundwater resources are used in the agricultural sector. In this study, Soil-Water-Atmosphere-Plant (SWAP) model was calibrated and validated using measured data from six different fields located in the NEYSHABOUR PLAIN. For this purpose, field information and other SWAP required data were collected in the six farm conditions. Calibrated and validated SWAP model was then used to quantify the effects of existing irrigation practices on water balance components and different water productivity indicators and to determine improved irrigation schedules for wheat, barley, sugar beet, cotton, silage corn, and tomato. Estimation of the net water saving as a result of improved irrigation schedules is also discussed. The results showed that under the current irrigation practices, soil evaporation reduced WPET (Yact/ETact) over WPT (Yact/Tact) by 24%, 26%, 27%, 21%, 8% and 16% for wheat, barley, sugar beet, cotton, silage corn and tomato, respectively. The reduction in WPETQ (Yact/ETact+qbot) over WPET because of deep percolation was even higher: 50%, 44%, 33%, 37%, 14% and 56% for wheat, barley, sugar beet, cotton, silage com and tomato, respectively. The substantial differences in WP values emphasized the need to control non-beneficial soil evaporation and deep percolation losses, and change traditional irrigation system by a more efficient one. Model simulations by improved irrigation schedule revealed that a seasonal irrigation amount of 520 mm for wheat, 440 mm for barley, 1010 mm for sugar beet, 930 mm for cotton, 870 mm for silage com and 1050 mm for tomato would be enough to get the maximum yields. The optimized irrigation schedule uses 26% less irrigation water as compared to current irrigation practices and increases WPI (Yact/1rrig) by a factor of 1.2 for wheat, 0.7 for barley, 1.6 for sugar beet, 6.7 for silage com and 8.3 for tomato because of reduced soil evaporation and moisture storage in the root zone. Considering the total area of cultivation of the six studied crops in the NEYSHABOUR PLAIN (80000 ha), it is estimated that adoption of optimal irrigation schedules can save up to 165 million m3 of water.

Introduction The type of management operations and land use systems are the key parameters affecting the soil quality and sustainable land use. The exploitation systems by efficient use of soil and water recourse can decrease productions costs and increase the yield as well as conserve the natural resources. However, farmers and stakeholders need to be aware that through their management practices, they affect soil quality and, with the short-term goal of production and greater profitability, lead to soil degradation. They can both use the land economically and improve and maintain soil quality by balancing production inputs and refining their management approaches. There are different management systems of productivity in agricultural lands in NEYSHABOUR PLAIN in northeastern Iran. In addition to the water and soil limitations in the study area, the prevalence of the smallholder system and the unwillingness of farmers to integrate smallholder, has further increased the destruction of soils in the study area. The objective of this study was to assess the changes in soil quality index in surface soil and profile (0-100 cm) and calculate the correlation between soil quality index and alfalfa and rapeseed yield in rangeland and agricultural areas managed by smallholders, total owners, and Binalood Company in the study area. Materials and Methods A total of 21 soil profiles were described in the total owner, smallholder and Binalood company management system and sampled from the alfalfa and rapeseed lands. Questionnaires were prepared with the help of farmers and experts in the study area based on Analytic Hierarchical analysis (AHP) method. The physical and chemical characteristics of the soil samples were determined. The important soil characteristics affecting plant growth were determined by interviewing farmers and experts study area. Soil quality index in the minimum data set (MDS) was calculated by two methods of principal component analysis (PCA) and expert opinion (EO), by additive and weighted methods in surface soil and profile. To achieve a single value for each soil properties in the soil profile, two methods of weighted mean and weighted factor were used. To evaluate the accuracy of the assessment, the correlation between soil quality index and alfalfa and rapeseed yield was investigated of the various management system. Result and Discussion The results showed that the highest additive and weighted soil quality index at both surface and soil profile in both PCA and EO methods were in rangeland. It was due to lack of cultivation and maintaining organic matter comparing to agricultural land. The total owner management system due to its economic power and the use of appropriate and scientific methods comparing to smallholder management system, showed the highest additive and weighted soil quality index. In all management system, the EO-calculated weight index by weighted factor method had the highest value due to assigning the suitable weight for soil characteristics. The correlation analyses soil quality indices with canola and alfalfa indicated that the EO soil quality calculated by weighted factor for the soil profile were more correlated than surface soil in total owner system and the Binalood company. Weight coefficient method due to the application of different weights to each layer based on their importance, showed a higher soil quality index in both EO and PCA sets than the weighted average method. The reason for better EO performance probably is that the PCA is a reducing the dimensions, meanwhile, the minimum data selection in the EO method is based on regional experts which are familiar with cause-and-effect relationship of the soil properties. Due to the relatively good correlation of the yield of the studied products, with the soil quality index, an appropriate management needs to maintain and improve soil quality, especially in the smallholder system, as well as meeting the nutritional needs of these products. Conclusion Soil quality assessment in this study indicated that calculation of the soil quality index only considering the surface soil properties may not provide complete information for the farmers and land managers. Then inclusion of both surface and profile soil properties with farmers' knowledge and study area experts are essential for sustainable soil management. On the other hand, the differences in the management system also affected the soil quality index. Although the smallholder management system due to low input, especially chemical fertilizers, water and agricultural implements, had a high potential concerning environmental issues, but in terms of production, total owner and Binalood company management systems because of their high economic strength had the higher soil quality index. The farmers and stakeholders of the total owner management systems should be considered despite the proper management, however due to high inputs of fertilizer and water, especially in the Binalood company, the production may not be sustainable. Therefore, for further studies, calculating the water consumption in the desired management systems is recommended.