Synthesis of Ecological, Economic, and Social Effects of Water Transfer Projects

Reviewing lessons learned from studies of "soft" and "hard" water resources management strategies is one of the most important tasks of environmental researchers. The current research, with a qualitative approach based on the paradigm of social interpretation, using the “synthesis research” method, investigated the ecological, economic, and social effects of implementing water transfer projects. The studied population was all the studies in the last two decades evaluating the effects of water transfer projects in Iran and the world in Persian and English languages and the sample population considering the two key criteria of “maximum diversity” and “reaching the theoretical saturation point” in addition to applying restrictions such as the year of publication. Accurate to the topic in the title, abstract or keywords, research quality, and relevance of the reviewed papers, the sample of the current research was determined 59 articles. Then the text of these articles was carefully examined and in three stages of coding. The findings of the research showed that the most important ecological effects of these projects are the “drying up of springs and lakes”, “drop in underground water level and intensification of land subsidence” and “decrease in land potential for agricultural activities”. The most important social effects of these plans are “increasing social anxiety”, “decreasing social security”, “weakening social networks”, “increasing migration to metropolises” and “losing trust towards officials”. Also, the most important economic effects of these plans are “increasing economic losses due to the destruction of natural resources and the environment”, “reducing the economic well-being of villagers” and “reducing animal husbandry capacity”. To validate the findings, direct quotations from the text of the selected articles were used. In the last stage, the axial, and selective codes led to the presentation of the conceptual schema of the current research, and the final conceptual model was reviewed by 4 experts and finalized after modification.