Abstract

The challenge of water resources is very important in regions like Middle East, which has a dry and semi-arid climate and extreme land use changes. Most countries like Iran in this region are encountered with water scarcity. Zaribar Lake basin in the west of Iran has undergone many changes over recent years due to land use and climate variations. This watershed is an important source of water for industry and agriculture and supports valuable ecosystems such as Zaribar wetland. Therefore, in this research, we investigate the effects of rainfall variability and land use changes on the availability of water resources in this basin between the year from 1990 to 2016 through analyzes of satellite images, meteorological and hydrological data. The results show that during this period the amount of precipitation has dropped, and the area of land uses like agricultural and residential sectors, which consume the most amount of water, has grown while the area of forests which preserve water in the catchment has decreased. Generally, the area of the lake has not changed significantly but the depth of water inside the lake and the water table and availability in the whole of the basin have decreased because of land use changes and climate variation.

Keywords: Land use change; Climate change; Water resources; Zaribar Lake basin