Content analysis the century of water legislation in Iran

Numerous droughts and limited water resources in Iran have revealed the importance of managing this valuable resource. Sustainable management requires clear, applicable and fair rules in the division and distribution of water. The aim of This study was to analyze the water laws from the time of the codified legislation (Constitutional Revolution) to the laws passed by the Islamic council congress in recent years. The rules were analyzed using content analysis method. The statistical population of the study consisted of all laws passed by the legislature in the context of water. Books and documents related to water laws were used as research sources at different time periods. Content analysis was performed using Maxqda software. The results showed agricultural sector has received special attention in all laws. Groundwater, especially wells and water governance, were the issues of interest in various legislative periods. Water Resource Ownership Changes Show that the trend from private ownership in the first period of water laws has changed to public ownership and state governance in the second and third period. In some rules, there were problems such as: lack of transparency, non-applicable, cliché and contradictions, and little attention had been paid to new issues such as the water market and the transfer the right.