Economic Valuation of Industrial Water Toward Water Reallocation and Environmental Restoration in Zayandeh-Rood Basin, Iran

Ghobadi, Shahram; Moridi, Ali; Khalili, Reza

doi:10.48308/ijce.2025.240151.1007

Economic Valuation of Industrial Water Toward Water Reallocation and Environmental Restoration in Zayandeh-Rood Basin, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Faculty of Civil, Water, and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 1983969411, Iran

10.48308/ijce.2025.240151.1007

Abstract

The Zayandeh-Rood basin is one of the regions with high socio-economic importance in Iran, which at the same time has faced the problems of scarcity of water resources. excessive exploitation of water resources in the Zayandeh-Rood River basin, the largest permanent river in Central Iran, has supported significant socio-economic development in the basin, but at the same time, it has caused a severe reduction in the ecological flow of the river and a rapid fall in the groundwater table. This has caused catastrophic subsidence in the Isfahan aquifer, destroyed local ecosystems, and resulted in the complete drying of the terminal lagoon (Gawkhoni). As long as cheap water is provided to the economic sectors of the basin regardless of its economic value, and the overexploitation of the basin's water resources is not adjusted by reallocation, no improvement in the environmental conditions of the basin will be expected. Industries, which are one of the major users of water in the Zayandeh Rood basin, have paid an average of less than 2 percent of the economic value of water as the water price during the study period. Considering that the price elasticity of demand for industrial water is high, and the cost paid for water in the relevant industries has been significantly lower than the economic value of water in these industries. Therefore, adopting the policy of reforming the water pricing system in this sector can lead to substitution between different water qualities, including recycling, and pave the way for environmental restoration and reallocation of water in the basin.

Keywords

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