Importance of good groundwater governance in economic development: The case of western Iran

Over the previous half century, increased groundwater mining has had significant social and economic implications that are still going on. Many solutions and frameworks have been proposed in the world to overcome these problems. In this study, we attempted to analyze the conditions of Hamedan-Bahar plain in terms of groundwater governance (GG). The groundwater governance indicators were evaluated using the Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). In general, the status of the groundwater governance (GG) indicators in the region shows that these indicators are all lower than the standard level and are not in good condition. Based on the results, the constructs of policy-making (β = 0.867), information and data (β = 0.866), and stakeholder engagement (β = 0.859) had the greatest effect on the latent variable (i.e., groundwater governance), while the other constructs had a moderate effect. Among the three constructs of water governance, the efficiency construct (β = 0.404) with the indicators of information and data, budget, legislation, and innovative measures had the greatest impact on the governance of groundwater resources in Hamedan-Bahar plain. Finally, the overall goodness of fit (GOF = 0.77) reflects the excellent fit of the model. According to the results obtained, the water system managers and policy makers in the province should increase stakeholders' knowledge and awareness about new frameworks of water resources governance. A robust framework is presented for policy makers and planners to identify the gaps and problems of water resources. Furthermore, various aspects and features should be emphasized simultaneously so as to achieve sustainable governance of groundwater resources.