Investigating the Local Water Markets in the North Khorasan Province (Case study: Downstream of Shivan Barzoo Dam)

Unlike the role and long history of the market mechanism in allocating resources and commodities but the role of market mechanism has been less considered by policymakers and planners in the allocation of water resources. But, in the current situation, with the increasing scarcity of water in most parts of the world, the use of this policy has been increasingly taken into consideration. In this regard, this study investigates the current status of water exchange on the downstream of Shirvan Barzoo dam in North Khorasan province. The results of this study show that in the current situation there are unofficial and dispersed water exchanges among the farmers, and more than 45% of the interviewees exchanged water that about 70% of them as buyers and 38% as seller have contributed. The cost of used water from the dam across different areas is also equivalent to 472 Rials per cubic meter. On average, 56% of the farmers tend to sell water at an average price of 3560 Rials and 48% of the farmers tend to buy water at an average price of 3328 Rials per cubic meter. In total, more than 91 percent of the farmers tend to create a local water market. Accordingly, it is recommended that local water markets, similar to its successful example in Mojahedin Shahroud, be established and strengthened to optimally use water resources and prevent the severity of the water crisis in the region.