JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Mutual understanding among officials and followers has been a point of concern in behavioral management. Natural resources extension which, from the very first step, is concerned with the exploration of practical problems is in serious need of an atmosphere of mutual understanding between agents and clientele. In this research, attention was drawn toward the measurement of mutual understanding between executives and nomads regarding nomads’ problems in utilizing natural resources and breeding cattle in Isfahan Province. For this purpose, initially, understanding between nomads and natural resources administrators (extension agents and specialists) regarding their respective problems were measured and compared. The research population of the study consisted of two groups. The first, involved 32 administrators, extension agents and specialists, and the second, 75 nomad families. Two different questionnaires were developed for the study as research instruments in which 52 items regarding nomad problems were included. Each part of the population was asked to rank the items accordingly. Then, some nonparametric tests such as Kruscall Wallis and Mann Whitny U tests were applied to compare the mean rank for each item within and between the two groups.

Results showed that the administrators and nomads had different attitudes in only two of the 52 items. Administrators had no statistically significant different attitude in 52 problems. Eliminating the discriminating items, the attitudes in only two groups were compared and results showed that they had no significant difference in the remaining 48 items. Therefore, extension agents can follow these problems based on their mean rank priority in their developmental projects. This method of data reduction and understanding field constraints can be applied to the studies dealing with planning agricultural and/or natural resources development projects through extension education.

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Molasses are produced in large amounts by sugar cane and sugar beet factories every year. However, they are considered as the waste product of the crystallization plants. Thus, although they contain significant amounts of materials with deep black colour which can be separated as food colour, molasses are very cheap and feasible to be used for this purpose. Aliquots of diluted molasses, after adjusting the pH, were passed through the column followed by extraction with acidified alcohol. The highest yield of extraction (76.3%) was obtained by using diluted molasses (10° BX) and 150 ml of Amberlite resins. The solvent was removed and the solid colour was obtained by evaporating the water using a freeze drying system.

 The colour was characterized by determining its solubility, amount of ash, and sugar content and its colouring ability. Also, the stability of the colour under different conditions of acidic pH, temperature, and visible light was investigated. In addition, the colour values of the colour solution were measured by Hunter lab system.

The colour was compared with the imported caramel which is used in the black soft drinks of Zam Zam. Both had almost the same values of λ_max. Also, their sensitivities to pH changes were similar. Samples of soft drinks made by using the prepared colour were compared with those made by caramel under different conditions of storage such as temperature and light. On the whole, the colour was found to be a very suitable replacement for caramel in the production of black soft drinks.

 Also the colour was used as partial replacement for cocoa powder in making chocolate milk. The taste panel showed that cocoa powder can be replaced by the colour powder by 20% with almost no detectable differences. The caramel from molasses is safe and can be used as a food colour. The cost of production was estimated at about 10 Rials per gram of caramel. Thus, from an economical point of view, industrial production of caramel from molasses is profitable.

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Increasing application of herbicides such as atrazine raises concerns about soil and groundwater pollution. This study investigated spatial and temporal variation of atrazine concentration and its transportation in the Daneshkadeh soil series (Fine, mixed, mesic, Calcixerollic Xerochrepts) at the experimental field of Agricultural College, Shiraz University. The risk of soil and water contamination due to applying atrazine was also assessed. The PRZM-2 model was evaluated for the simulation of the atrazine concentration. The experiment had 3 plots, 209 m² each (19 by 11 m). Atrazine was applied on corn at a rate of 3.5 kg a.i./ha per plot. During the growing season, soil samples were collected from each plot 7 times through 1 m soil depth with 0.10-m increments. The observed data showed temporal reduction of atrazine concentrations in the soil profile. The maximum depth of atrazine traced was about 50 cm below the soil surface. Statistical parameters ME, RMSE, EF, and CRM were obtained to compare PRZM-2 predicted and observed soil residue concentrations. For all data, the mentioned parameters were calculated and found to be 2.78 mg/kg-soil, 12.73 mg/kg-soil, 0.49, and 0.25, respectively. The simulation results were in close agreement with the observed data. Therefore, PRZM-2 could be used for simulation of atrazine transport and groundwater pollution.

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In recent decades, the use of nitrogen fertilizers has increased irrespective of their effects on soil properties, agricultural products and, particularly, on environmental pollution. Nitrate easily leaches from soils into groundwater. The objective of this study was to determine temporal and spatial nitrate concentrations in groundwater in agricultural, industrial and urban regions in some parts of Isfahan Province. Water samples were collected monthly from 75 agricultural, industrial, and urban wells of Isfahan, Najaf-abad, Shahreza, Natanz and Kashan during January-May 2001. The results indicated that NO₃-N concentrations in most of the regions studied were higher than the standard level (10 mg/l) and nitrate pollution must be reckoned among the most serious problems of sustainable agriculture and exploitation of groundwater resources. Average NO₃-N concentration in different wells ranged from 1.03 to 50.78 mg/l (4.64 to 228.5 mg/l as nitrate). The average NO₃-N concentration in groundwater of Najaf-abad, Shahreza, Isfahan and Natanz-Kashan was 17.56, 14.6, 16.04, and 8.24 mg/l and 95.5, 100, 84 and 33.3 % of total wells in these regions had nitrate concentrations above the standard level, respectively. Maximum NO₃-N concentration was detected in the agricultural region south of Najaf-abad (64.6 mg/l). Nitrate pollution in most of the sampling areas was mainly linked to agricultural activities. The average NO₃-N concentration in groundwater of all agricultural, industrial, and urban regions, except for urban regions of Natanz and Kashan, were above the standard level. Generally, nitrate concentration level in groundwater increased with time and was maximum in March and April.

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Flora identification of each region plays an important role in the maintenance of natural resources of each country and it is a prerequisite to supplementary phylogenetics and genetic diversity studies. During February 1994 to August 1995, in a two-week interval, vineyards in two districts of Isfahan province, namely Zarinshahr and Tiran & Karvan were visited and weed samples were collected in flowering stages. All collected specimens were identified using specimens present in Herbarium of colleges of agriculture and natural resources of Isfahan University of Technology and other available references. The analysis revealed that in Tiran and Karvan, 84 species belonged to 71 genera and 26 families and in Zarinshahr 62 species belonged to 51 genera and 23 families. Species dominance in both districts belonged to Asteraceae and Gramineae families. Analysis of plant life forms using Raunkiaar method showed that Therophytes with 79.5% and Geophytes with 8.3% were the most frequent life forms in both Zarinshahr and Tiran & Karvan regions.

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Genetic maps with high genome coverage are becoming increasingly useful in both basic and applied genetic researches. In the last decades, the advent of DNA markers has brought about a magnificent revolution in the production of genetic map, especially in wheat. In the present study, AFLP markers were used to saturate linkage map of 107 doubled haploid individuals produced through Fukuho _Komugi × Oligo – Culm crosses received from Japan International Research Center of Agricultural Science (JIRCAS). The framework of genetic map was used as base map for next analysis. AFLP analysis was performed with MseI / PstI as digestive enzymes. The average percentage of polymorphism with AFLP markers was around 16.6%. Data analysis was performed by computer program known as Mapmaker / EXP, Ver. 3.3. In this program, the maximum distance criterion was 50 cM and the minimum LOD equated 3. The drawing of chromosome schema for the linkage groups was performed by Draw map, Ver 1.1. In this analysis, 115 AFLP markers were divided into 10 groups in addition, some of the markers remained unlinked. The supplementary data analysis along with specific SSR markers identified the chromosome loci of the markers. Ultimately, 71.1% of the markers were assigned to genome A, 16.5% to genome B and only 3% to genome D. The AFLP markers filled 11 gaps in 7 chromosomes (2A, 3A, 7A, 2B, 3B, 5B and 7B). The low coverage of genome D was due to the limited polymorphism and its conservation in different populations. Among the chromosomes, maximum number of markers (60) was assigned to the chromosome 7A. The distribution of the markers on this chromosome was not uniform. Such a distribution was related to the grouping AFLP markers within heterochromatin region, particularly around the centromere.

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Occupational safety and health of agricultural workers have not yet received their due attention in developing countries. This is particularly true in the case of tractor drivers who operate tractors in unfavorable conditions and in a high level of seat and tractor vibrations. Therefore, an investigation of vibration sources and finding the methods for decreasing them are of considerable importance. In this research, vibrations that the tractor operators of different weights are exposed to while operating any of the three commonly used tractors in Iran during plowing with moldboard plows, disk harrows or routine road travel at two forward speeds were examined. Acceleration data of tractor body and its driver, while riding the tractor, were measured and recorded. Later, Fast Fourier Analysis, and root mean square of weighted accelerations for the cases of driver health and comfort were analyzed and evaluated. Results revealed that the level of forward speed did not have any significant effect on vibrations introduced to drivers body, however, the average of acceleration vectors on different tractors and their drivers’ bodies revealed a significant influence (P<0.01). Moreover, with increasing a driver’s mass, the average of acceleration vectors on his body decreased. For example, a driver of 55 kg mass, bore a maximum acceleration vector of 9.8 m/sec2, while a driver with 100 kg mass, had a minimum acceleration vector of 3.3 m/sec2. In a comparison of permissible riding hours/day, JD3140 and U651 tractors recorded maximum and minimum, respectively. Also acceleration vectors for different tractor operators compared with international standards showed that the comfort level for these tractors was extremely low.

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Kernel hardness is one of the most important characterizations on end-use quality of bread wheat and also used for their marketing classification. Kernel texture, mainly controlled by one major locus (Ha) located on the short arm of chromosome 5D. Two tightly linked genes as puroindolin a , and b covered by this major locus and designed as Pina and Pinb respectively. When both puroindolines are in their ‘functional’ wild state, grain texture is soft. When either of the puroindoline alleles is absent or alter by mutation, then the result is hard texture. In this study, 61 Iranian commercial cultivars and 92 landraces were investigated for their kernel hardness and puroindoline alleles using SKCS and, PCR and cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS) techniques respectively. Specific primers were used to amplify Pina and Pinb. The results indicated that frequency of hard, mixed and soft genotypes were 65.6, 19.6 and 14.8% respectively, in commercial cultivars and 58.7, 13 and 28.3% in landraces varieties. Among hard type of commercial cultivars, 18 and 5, genotypes have identified as Pina-D1b and Pinb-D1b respectively. Kavir was only cultivar with Pinb-D1e allele. Pinb-D1b allele was identified in two hard types of landrace varieties. Surprisingly, Pinb-D1c was not found in any varieties. Influence of the above proindoline alleles on kernel hardness showed that the SKCS hardness index of Pina-D1b was significantly higher than that of Pinb-D1b. Our knowledge about the genetic basis of kernel hardness could provide useful information in breeding programs of bread wheat.

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Seventy- two 26-weakk-old white leghorn layers (w-36) were fed commercial diets containing 0, 2 and 4 fish oil and the diets were iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. Hens were randomly assigned to 3 treatment diets, with 3 replicates and 8 layers in each. The experiment was conducted over a period of 12 weeks in order to study the effects of feeding fish oil on fatty acid composition of egg yolks. The yolk of eggs was extracted and cholesterol content was determined in each period. Statistical analysis of results was performed using the general linear procedure (GLM) of the SAS and means were compared using Duncan’s multiple range test. As a result, saturated fatty acid (myristic, palemitic and stearic acid), ω-7 (palemitoleat) and ω -9 (oleat) and arashidonat in egg yolk was not significantly (P>0.05) different among treatments, but the linoleat and ω -6 fatty acid were decreased in all FO treatments (P<0.05). The linolenic acid did not vary in treatments but the other ω -3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoate and docosahexaenoate) were increased in FO treatments and there was a statistically significant difference between treatments (P<0.05). The ω -6/ ω -3 ratio was decreased from 18 in control to 3.8 and 2.31 at 2 and 4% treatments, respectively(P<0.05).

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Canola (Brassica napus L.) as one of the oilseed crops has recently received lots of attention due to its suitable oil quality and high oil percentage. To evaluate the effect of water deficit stress on canola genotypes with regard to yield, drought tolerance quantitative indices and identify drought tolerant genotypes, an experiment was conducted in research farm of seed and plant improvement Institute (Karaj) using completely randomized block design with four replications, and 25 genotypes under two stress and non stress conditions. Genotypes were evaluated regarding drought tolerance. Drought tolerance quantitative indices include MP, GMP, STI, SSI and TOL. Result of variance analysis showed significant differences among genotypes as regards all indices and seed yield of genotypes in both conditions at 1% probability level. MP, GMP and STI indices were selected as the best indices for selection of tolerant genotypes in regard to analysis of correlation between seed yield in two stress and non stress conditions and drought tolerance indices. Results indicated that Genotype Vectra was the best genotype, because of its proper mean yield in both stress and non stress conditions. Multivariate biplot figure display showed that MP, GMP and STI indices had high correlation coefficient with each other, and tolerant genotypes were located near tolerance indices. Also results of three dimensional scatter plot and cluster analysis indicated that genotypes Modena, Jura, Eshydromel, Vectra, Dante, Zarfam, Esbetty and Olano were tolerant to drought stress, and genotypes Olpop, GKHelena, RG4504 and Olphi were sensitive genotypes.

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Landscape ecology as a modern interdisciplinary science offers new concepts, theories, and methods for land evaluation and management. One main part of landscape ecology is describing patterns in the landscape and interpreting the ecological effects of these patterns on flora, fauna, flow of energy and materials. Landscape studies require methods to identify and quantify spatial patterns of landscape. Quantification of spatial patterns is essential to understand landscape functions and processes. Landscape indices as diversity and naturalness can provide quantitative information about landscape pattern. Remote sensing and GIS techniques have high ability for landscape researchers to specify, map and analyze landscape patterns. The objectives of the research include mapping and quantifing diversity and naturalness indices for Mooteh wildlife refuge by land use/land cover map derived from remote sensing images. Finally, diversity and naturalness were classified in 4 and 6 classes, respectively. Results showed that the intermediate and high diversity classes (class 1 & 2) have occupied the largest area in the study area. Among naturalness classes, class 1 which represents the high level of naturalness has taken the largest area in Mooteh W.R.

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Drought is a natural feature of the climate condition, and its recurrence is inevitable. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of climatic factors on prediction of drought in different areas of Yazd based on artificial neural networks technique. In most of the meteorological stations located in Yazd area, precipitation is the only measured factor while generally in synoptic meteorological stations in addition to precipitation some other variables including maximum and mean temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, dominant wind direction and the amount of evaporation are also available. In this research it was tried to evaluate the role of the type and number of meteorological factor (as inputs of ANN model) on accuracy of ANN based drought prediction. Research area is a part of Yazd province containing only one synoptic and 13 non-synoptic meteorological stations. Three-year moving average of monthly precipitation was the main input of the models in all stations. The type of ANN used in this study was time lag recurrent network (TLRN), a dynamic architecture which was selected by evaluation of different types of ANN in this research. What was predicted is the three-year moving average of monthly precipitation of the next year, which is the main factor to evaluate drought condition one year before it occurs. For the Yazd synoptic meteorological station, several combinations of input variables was evaluated and tested to find the most relevant type of input variables for prediction of drought. However, for other 13 stations precipitation data was the only variable to use in ANN models for this purpose. Results in all stations were satisfactory, even where only one input (precipitation) was used to the models, although the level prediction accuracy was different from station to station. Result taken from this research, indicates high flexibility of ANN to cope with poor data condition where it is difficult to get acceptable results by most of the methods.

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Nitrogen (N) loss from irrigated cropland, particularly sandy soils, significantly contributes to nitrate contamination in surface and groundwater and increases N applications to crops. This is because negatively charged nitrate normally does not have much affinity to soil particles. To retard the movement of nitrate, materials should have high affinity for anions, which most naturally occurring minerals do not have. The cation-exchange properties of natural zeolites can be exploited to modify their surface chemistries so that other classes of compounds, particularly anions and non-polar organics are retained. In this study, the ability to remove nitrate from aqueous solutions with different Cl- concentrations using Iranian zeolite (Semnan) modified by hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide in millimeter and nanometer particle sizes was determined and the equilibrium isotherms were characterized. The nitrate release as affected by time and ionic strength was also evaluated. It was demonstrated that SMZ is capable of adsorbing more than 60 mmol kg-1 and 80 mmol kg-1 nitrate in millimeter and nanometer sizes, respectively, and adsorbed nitrate can be easily released under different ionic strengths. The millimeter and nanometer-sized SMZ showed 26.7% to 82.3% and 37.8% to 85.5% nitrate removal efficiency, respectively. The average of nitrate released by millimeter-sized SMZ was 6.92 mmol kg-1 in deionized water while it was 14.68, 22.71, and 34.91 mmol kg-1 in releasing solutions with ionic strengths of 0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 M, respectively

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In this study, the effect of clinoptilolite zeolite, as a soil amendment, on the parameters related to water and nitrogen movement in soil was investigated. Parameter and uncertainty estimation in the unamended (control) and amended soil (Z), was performed using the sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm (SUFI-2) which is linked to LEACHN (in the LEACHN-CUP software). The goodness of prediction uncertainty was judged on the basis of P-factor and R-factor. P factor, R-factor, and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NS) was obtained 0.71, 0.76, and 0.92, respectively, in the prediction of the accumulated drainage from control. The results in prediction of the accumulated drainage from Z treatment using hydraulic parameters obtained in control were satisfactory (P-factor = 0.87, R-factor = 0.78, and NS = 0.87). P-factor, R factor, and NS were 0.87, 1.36, and 0.91, respectively, in the prediction of NO3-N leaching at control. According to the P-factor and R-factor values (P-factor = 1, R-factor = 2.46), application of the control parameter ranges in the prediction of NO3-N leaching at Z treatment produced a large uncertainty. By adjusting the parameters in control for zeolite amended soil, the estimated values for denitrification rate, distribution coefficient, and soil/solution NO3-N nitrification rate were greater in zeolite-amended soil compared to control.

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Determine appropriate locations with accuracy and speed required is for Floodwater spreading very important. The main objective of this research, preparation, use and evaluation decision support systems is based on GIS and RS techniques to identify and prioritization appropriate areas Floodwater spreading in the study area. In this study area suitable for flood water spreading were selected based on major criteria four, sub criteria eight and index twentyfour. Finally five scenario will be provide and assessment (a scenario based on the relative values for the criteria four, and different scenarios four based on the obvious one of the main criteria). Comparison desirability average among the scenarios five indicate that it is Sub watershed (1) In the scenario third (infilteration preferred, water application preference and equality of all the main criteria) had a higher average desirability therefore between Sub watershed 2 in this scenario is preferred more than the other Sub. Of between the two sub watershed ivar region considering that the desirability average, sub watershed (1) and implemented of between scenarios, scenario (1) (infilteration major criteria preferred) were selected as first priority. Second priority for Floodwater spreading site selection is belong to sub watershed 2, and with scenario (1).

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Some recent research has indicated that certain alkaline contaminations may adversely affect mechanical properties of clayey soils. To examine the potential impact of alkaline divalent barium on the swelling characteristics of KAHRIZAK clay, the major solid-waste landfill at south of Tehran, a systematic set of experiments was conducted. Observations indicated that the swelling in the studied soil that belonged to the CH-MH group with a PI of 28.44, was reduced by about 17, 37, 48 and 54 percent, and swelling pressure by about 41, 55, 65 and 67 percent, respectively, after addition of barium chloride solutions to concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.25 molal. It was also found that addition of barium chloride solutions to concentrations of higher than 1 molal had a little effect on reduction of swelling and swelling pressure.

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Shortage of rainfall and also relatively high intensity precipitations in short-term are characteristics of arid regions of the world, such as central of Iran. Studies have indicated that massive flooding causes great loss of life and properties every year. Also, Water scarcity in arid and semiarid regions of the world will cause fragile living conditions in these areas. Therefore, it is needed to reduce runoff rates using actions such as dam construction or artificial recharge techniques. In this study, seven factors were applied such as the slope, surface permeability, transmissibility in alluvium, alluvial quality, land use, runoff volume and thickness of the unsaturated layer to determine suitable areas and site selection for flood spreading and artificial recharge in south of Kashan plain. After preparing the digital layers, criteria weights were determined using Fuzzy AHP. The weighted maps were acquired and merged together. Results indicated that land use criterion with the greatest weight (0.22) was determined as the first priority in the site selection for flood speading. The parameters of runoff volume, permeability, slope, depth of the unsaturated layer, alluvial quality, and transfer coefficient were accounted as the second to seventh priorities. 

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Soil erosion is undoubtedly one of the most important problems in natural areas of Iran and has destructive effects on different ecosystems. Considering that calculation of the sediment rate in sediment stations and direct measurements of erosion process is costly and difficult, it is critical to find ways to accurately estimate the amount of sediment yield in catchments especially in arid and hyper arid areas because of their high ecological sensitivity. One of the most commonly used methods in these areas is the sediment rating regression method. Therefore, in this study sediment observed data for 48 events (the corresponding discharge and sediment) in a 23-year period from Fkhrabad basin (Mehriz) were compared to the estimated data obtained from Multi-line rating method, extent middle class, middle class rating curve with correction factor QMLE, SMEARING correction coefficient FAO and Artificial Neural networks (ANNs). Finally, the accuracy of these methods were assessed using different evaluation criteria such as Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R2) and the standard Nash (ME). Results showed that ANN outperformed the other methods with the RMSE, R2 and ME of 203.3, 0.86 and 0.66, respectively. The results suggest that these methods should be used cautiously in estimating the suspended sediment load in arid and hyper arid regions due to the nature of the observed data and temporal and seasonal flow systems in these regions. It was also indicated that the artificial neural network models have higher flexibility than other methods which makes them to be useful tools for modeling in poor data conditions.
 

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Underground dams are structures built in underground and are capable of saving and making the underground water available. In this research, by using the SWOT analysis model, suitable locations were investigated for the development of an underground dam in the Keriyan area of Hormozgan province.  At first, the necessary data and information were provided by visiting the region and presenting a questionnaire to the residents of the area and experts to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the region for the underground dams. In the final step, by using the SWOT model and QSPM matrix, a comprehensive and appropriate strategy for underground dams was determined. The results showed that among the internal factors, not decreasing the volume of the reservoir due to deposits and reducing the evaporation from the reservoir with a final value of 0.85 and 0.66, and among the external factors, the willingness and cooperation of the relevant organizations and the disruption of downstream water rights with a final value of 0.68 and 0.66 had the greatest impact on selecting the strategy. Based on the results related to the internal and external factors, the strategy was placed in the maximum-maximum quadrant; in line with the strategy, by using the strengths and opportunities, the weaknesses should be overcome and the threats should be tackled. Some strategies were presented. In order to prioritize these strategies, the quantitative matrix QSPM was used. Finally, the hydrological, economic, social and environmental evaluating strategies of underground dams, before and after the construction, with a final score of 19.3 were prioritized.