Investigating the Challenges of Inter-Basin Water Transfer Projects (Case Study: Beheshtabad Water Transfer Plan)

The management of water resources in arid and semi-arid regions of the world faces many challenges due to the spatial and temporal mismatch between water supply and demand. One of the solutions to overcome these challenges is the implementation of inter-basin water transfer projects. However, these projects have themselves created new challenges as they manipulate the natural conditions of the basins. The impacts of implementing these projects can overshadow a variety of issues, including not only technical issues but also environmental, economic, social, political, and even security issues. Investigating all of these aspects requires an interdisciplinary approach to the problem and its challenges to understand the mutual effects of the individual aspects on the overall conditions of the project and thus increase the chance of project success. In this study, library resources and a descriptive-analytical method were used to investigate the challenges associated with the Beheshtabad Water Transfer Project. The results of the investigation have shown that although most of the studies and the focus of managers and even researchers have been on the technical aspect of this project attempts have been made to create the basis for the implementation of the project by making changes in this area, the challenges related to the Beheshtabad project are not only technical and this project may affect various aspects of the lives of the residents of the source and destination basins. If no solution is found to deal with the possible consequences, the project may bring further challenges, especially in the social and security areas. Therefore, dealing with the conditions of the Beheshtabad project may be one of the most important challenges for the country's governance in the last decade.