Determining strategic priorities and the approach for managing drinking water quality in rural areas

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jnrg.2025.392142.1029

Abstract

Drinking water in many rural settlements in the country is supplied from groundwater sources. Aliabad-Katul County's characteristics include a large number of rural householders, the predominance of agriculture and animal husbandry as the main occupations, and the dispersion of villages, which also contribute to groundwater pollution. This study aims to identify external and internal factors that cause and affect groundwater pollution, provide priority strategies, and determine a strategic approach to drinking water quality management in this region. The general method of this research was descriptive-analytical. First, the information obtained from the exploratory interview and questionnaire (including the opinion of 32 local experts) was adapted to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, and Opportunities (SWOT) matrix and the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) for prioritizing the strategies. Then, the results were transferred to the Strategic Position and Action Assessment (SPACE) matrix for specifying the approach to dealing with the problem. The main causes of drinking water pollution were the lack of interaction between health centers located in rural areas and households, as well as the lack of basic health facilities. Three prioritized strategies were as follows: 1) focusing and justifying the councils the importance of sanitary disposal of waste and reducing drinking water pollution, 2) aligning different rural sectors to improve the quality of drinking water, and 3) reducing excess costs through cultural capacity-building in the rural community. Finally, the strategic approach was placed in an aggressive position, which means numerous villages must take steps in a growing and authoritative strategies.

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