Analysis of water stress indices and the network of water governance in the Sixth 5-year development plan of Iran

Intensification of water crisis in Iran, due to climate and environmental factors, inappropriate management of water resources management over the past three decades, the excesive use of surface water and underground water has seriously threatened the country's water resources availability. In the present study, the status of the water crisis in Iran provinces was first examined using Water Steress Index (WSI) and Falkenmarkwater stress indicators. In the next step, by assessing the sixth development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the legal provisions that directly and indirectly relate to water governance, the Water governance condition was analyzed using the network analysis method.The results of this study indicate that, according to the WSI index, in most of the country's provinces, in terms of water resources consumption, they are in medium to high levels. Also, according to the Falkenmarkindex, most of the country's provinces located in critical condition from the point of view of water crisis to absolute deficits.On the other hand, the results indicate that the water governance system in the country continues to be hierarchical, with a top-down approach focused on the power of government. Definitely, in the sixth program of development of the existence of Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and paying attention to organizations with public participation is a positive and promising point in the issue of water governance. But more attention should be paid to NGOs in the water resources management, and define more legal duties and obligations for these institutions.