Evaluation of Spatial Community Interactions in Adaptation to Water Scarcity Using Social Network Analysis, Case Study: Esfahan-Borkhar Plain

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering, Shadid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jwim.2024.378063.1168

Abstract

In this study, using social network analysis, the local communities of the Esfahan-Borkhar plain and their capacity to adapt to water scarcity have been examined. To identify these communities at the network level, political and natural boundaries, such as county borders, existing irrigation channels, the geographical locations of extraction wells, as well as the type and extent of crops grown by farmers and their water usage in the studied area, were utilized. A total of 1,569 stakeholders and 19 communities within the study area were identified between the years 2010 and 2015. The characteristics of these communities, such as water consumption per unit area, agricultural profit per unit area, and social network analysis metrics including centrality degree and eigenvector were calculated using object-oriented programming in Python. This was done to establish the relationship between the stakeholder network and the groundwater resource status in the studied area and to rank the communities accordingly. The results indicate that the average water consumption of all communities is approximately 16,000 cubic meters per hectare, the average profit per hectare is 110 million Rials, and the average centrality degree is 0.43. Communities located in the southwestern regions of the area, with an average profit of 190 million Rials per hectare, are the top communities in terms of economic productivity. Additionally, the top communities, with an average centrality degree of 0.8, have the highest level of stakeholder interactions at the micro-network level compared to other communities. Communities with the lowest economic productivity are located in the northern and western regions of the Esfahan-Borkhar plain, near the aquifer's recharge areas, and a change in these communities' approach to water resources is necessary. If overall network productivity is increased through strengthened inter-community connections, a reduction in the aquifer's decline, alongside improved adaptation to water scarcity and stakeholder welfare across the entire study area, is conceivable.

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References

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Water and Irrigation Management
Volume 14, Issue 4
February 2025
Pages 935-951

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