Curbing the subsidence crisis to reduce the environmental consequences and rehabilitate the aquifer based on the conservation reserve program (CRP)

Land settlement, sinkholes, and environmental destruction have occurred as a result of excessive extraction of groundwater resources and a severe water table drawdown in various parts of the world, including the plains of Famenin and Kabudarahang in the west of Iran. Simulating the interaction of surface and groundwater is one of the useful and powerful methods to determine the water budget of resources, to calculate more accurately the amount of recharge and discharge from the aquifer in such plains. The purpose of this research is to develop a coupled dynamic model of surface and groundwater to simulate the complete cycle of hydroclimatology in the saturated and unsaturated layers of the aquifer, to investigate the possibility of implementing a conservation reserve program (CRP) in a degraded aquifer and provide a workable solution to control the drop in the groundwater level and solve the crisis of sinkholes. Other goal is investigating the effects of implementing CRP in the sustainable exploitation of groundwater resources under the CRP30 and CRP50 management scenarios along with the reference scenario for a future 15-year period. Investigating the environmental consequences of the emission of greenhouse gases as a result of the implementation of these scenarios in the study area based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is another goal of this research. The results of this research show that the implementation of the CRP30 and CRP50 scenarios can compensate for the lost groundwater reserves to a large extent and will prevent sinkhole crisis in the long term. Taking into account the effect classes of LCA, the implementation of the CRP30 and CRP50 scenarios in the Famenin and kabudarahang plains will play a significant role in reducing the depletion of water resources, reducing the depletion of phosphate resources, and reducing the amount of eutrophication compared to the reference scenario. The success of CRP requires the paradigm of a systemic view and scientific-statistical support, especially cultural, social and economic support from both governments and critics of government policies and farmers cooperation.