A SURVEY ON SOCIAL ISSUES IN REPLACING EFFLUENT WITH AGRICULTURAL WATER RIGHTS (CASE STUDY : REPLACING MASHAD EFLUENT WITH WATER RIGHTS FROM KARDEH RIVER)

摘要

Over use of groundwater in Mashhad plain has resulted in a sharp decline of the water table. Because of draughts and increase of water consumption due to growing population pressure in Mashhad, one solution proposed by authorities was to compensate water scarcity by substituting the city effluent for a part of the water of Kardeh River that is now being used in agriculture in Mashhad. The project was approved and it is under execution now with cooperation from the Government, Executing agency and consulting companies. Olang and Parkandabad waste water treatment plants were constructed and transfer facilities to upload the effluents to the farmers’ fields were made. There were many social problems in executing this project. So a survey on social problems associated with the replacing a part of the fresh river water by the treated waste water as well as the contract issues with farmers, was carried out by the Amayesh & Tose-e-Shargh Consulting Co. Some economic and social problems as well as some acceptable solutions in this project are discussed in this paper. Field study and dialog with farmers were the main method of investigation. The analyzed views show that the majority of people accept the change of.