Introduction -- Part I: The Zayandeh Rud Catchment -- Water Resources in Iran and the Reasons for Establishing River Basin Organizations -- Water Management in the Zayandeh Rud Basin -- Part II: Developing a Common Understanding of IWRM and its Requirements -- Participation in Water Management in Iran -- Towards a Sustainable Advanced Training Sector in Iran -- Part III: Current and Future Water Availability and Use -- Current and Future Agricultural Water Use in the Zayandeh Rud Catchment -- Current and Future Industrial Water Use in the Zayandeh Rud Catchment -- Water Use for Drinking Water and Reuse of Treated Wastewater -- Development of a Water Quality Monitoring Sys-tem for the Zayandeh Rud River -- Obstacles and Opportunities for Iran's Wastewater Sector Development -- Vulnerability Analysis of Farmers in the Roodasht Region, Iran -- Part IV: Development of Necessary Tools for IWRM and Results -- Introduction: The Water Management Tool WMT -- Climate Change Impacts on Some Hydrological Variables in the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin, Iran -- Application of the Hydrological Model SWAT in the Zayandeh Rud catchment -- Application of the FEFLOW Groundwater Model in the Zayandeh Rud Catchment -- Application of MIKE Basin in the Zayandeh Rud Catchment.

This book presents the results of an interdisciplinary research project that was set up to introduce Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at the Zayandeh Rud, Central Iran's most important river. As a result of climate change and a missing overall concept for sustainably managing water resources, the river has repeatedly dried up in recent years. Not only has water stress led to severe conflicts among the water using sectors and neighboring provinces, it also threatens important ecosystems in the region. Thus, the joint development of an IWRM concept for the Zayandeh Rud catchment was the main objective of the project. Comprehensive technological and non-technological measures - ranging from wastewater reuse to capacity development - were adjusted to local conditions and implemented in order to initiate an integrated, iterative IWRM process. The design of a technology-based Water Management Tool (WMT) served as the connective link to create trust, cooperation and coordination among the stakeholders and institutions.