Attitude Changes’ Investigation in Iran’s Parliamentary Laws towards Integrated Management of Urban Water/Wastewater

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the attitude changes in the integrated management of urban water/wastewater in Iran’s parliamentary laws since the Constitutional Revolution. During this period, the National Parliament and the Islamic Parliament have ratified eight and ten laws regarding this field, respectively. According to the obtained results, water resources and wastewater collection have been considered more than other sections of the cycle, and the wastewater treatment sector has had the lowest frequency. In this regard, the main attitude of the laws and the presented solutions have been “political”. In addition, before the Islamic Revolution, there were no laws with a “preventive and protective” approach, and none of the laws provided an “educational-promotional” solution. However, after the Islamic Revolution, this essential and practical approach has been considered in some laws. The initial national authorities for water distribution and treatment were the Municipality and the Ministry of Health, respectively; however, the major responsibilities of this sector were left to the Ministry of Energy since its establishment in 1974. In the first years after the Islamic Revolution, the Ministry of Energy was still responsible for this subject, and no new authority had been created. About a decade later, the holding of National Water and Wastewater Company was formed as the head of the authority, and the provincial companies were created as its subsets, which was the milestone of integrated urban water and wastewater management in the country; the original nature of this authority has been preserved so far since its formation. Examining the parliament’s legislative capacity indicates that emerging issues such as water scarcity, drought, supply and demand management, and consumption patterns should be considered in drafting new laws for the future.

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Main Subjects


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