JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Due to the limitation and scarcity of water supplies, it is essential to identify and reuse alternative water sources, particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions according to environmental conditions. Reuse of runoff is an adaptive management philosophy and approach to balance efforts and provide sustainable water services and manage hazards. The present study is aimed to design a suitable model of water resource management with an emphasis on crisis management. In this study, indices and dimensions of the water resources management model were determined via the Delphi method (based on Schmidt, et al.). Delphi panel members were identified and selected in three stages using random sampling. The faculty members of water resources and watershed management university specializing and passive defense experts of water organization were selected as the Delphy panel members. Initially, panel members identified the most important effective items on water resources security, based on their inference of the model. Based on the first evaluation and after eliminating duplicates, 43 items remained. Finally, 36 items remained in the analyses, when the items with low and medium significance coefficients were eliminated. The final model of water resources management was approved by the expert opinion based on the crisis management approach. According to the results, designing rainwater collection and storage systems in different parts of the city and installing tanks for roof rainwater collection in each home were selected as the best approach in the critical condition (with an average grade of 4.94), whereas the installation of the sensors in different parts of water pipe with an average grade of 2.10 was ranked in the 33rd selection. Finally, the items identified by the Delphi panel were classified into four general indices: retrofit, safety, culture, and planning. In general, it is necessary for the officials of urban water resources, as well as crisis management, must prepare for crisis conditions as well as the correct, principled, and scientific use of available water resources to extract and store rainwater and runoff to use it in crises and disrupt the general water supply system.