Determining Agricultural Water Poverty Index in Kermanshah Province: The Case of Mahidasht Basin, Iran

As an assessment method of the water resources, Water Poverty Index (WPI) has become an available tool in water resources management. In particular, Agricultural Water Poverty Index (AWPI) is an assessment tool for agricultural water in rural areas. During the past decades, Mahidasht Basin in Kermanshah Province has been declared by water policy makers as “forbidden” basin in terms of water exploitation. Therefore, effective water resource management in the basin is deemed important. AWPI provides an appropriate tool in managing water resources more effectively. AWPI is an extension of Water Poverty Index (WPI) with five components including resources, access, use, capacity, and environment. This study sought to investigate the Agricultural Water Poverty Index in Mahidasht Basin in Kermanshah Province. Results revealed that Mahidasht Basin is faced with severe Agricultural Water Poverty (AWP= 49.06). Moreover, although farmers had limited water resources (R= 27.4) but these limited resources were highly accessible (A= 74.9). The result of this study has practical implications for water policy makers in Kermanshah Province. For example, agricultural policy makers can use the result of this study to devise better policies to alleviate agricultural water poverty in Mahidasht Basin where it is faced with water crisis.