Abstract:
As an assessment method of the water resources, Water Poverty Index (WPI) has
become an available tool in wa
ter resources management. In particular, Agricultural
Water Poverty Index (AWPI) is an assessment tool for agricultural water in rural areas.
During the past decades, Mahidasht Basin in Kermanshah Province has been declared by
water policy makers as “forbi
dden” basin in terms of water exploitation.
Therefore,
effective water resource management in the basin is deemed important.
AWPI
provides an
appropriate tool in managing water resources more effectively.
AWPI
is an extension of
Water Poverty Index (WPI) w
ith five components including resources, access, use,
capacity, and environment. This study sought to investigate the Agricultural Water
Poverty Index in Mahidasht Basin in Kermanshah Province. Results revealed that
Mahidasht Basin is faced with severe Agr
icultural Water Poverty (AWP= 49.06).
Moreover, although farmers had limited water resources (R= 27.4) but these limited
resources were highly accessible (A= 74.9). The result of this study has practical
implications for water policy makers in Kermanshah P
rovince. For example, agricultural
policy
makers can use the result of this study to devise better policies to alleviate
agricultural water poverty in Mahidasht Basin where it is faced with water crisis.
Keywords
: Agricultural Water Poverty Index, Normali
zation, Indicators, Water crisi
