Investigation of water resources and water scarcity in Gorganroud river basin using Falkenmark index

The presence of water is an important and fundamental factor for life. In addition, water supply is a principle in the development of societies. The unfavorable trend of water resources in the world and predictions reported the critical state of water, prompted researchers and international institutions to conduct extensive studies on water resources and related management. Due to the special sensitiveness of water resources management, various indices have been developed and presented to evaluate the current situation. In this study, Falkenmark index have been used to examine water scarcity using population rate and water consumption per capita in the Gorganroud basin. Gorganroud region is one of the lushest regions located north of Iran on the east side of Caspian Sea. According to Falkenmark index, which obtained to be more than 3000 in this area, shows that this basin is in good condition and no water scarcity is observed in it. Agriculture part consumes most of water supplied in this region which is followed by urban use or drinkable water and industrial use almost needs very low source of water.