Groundwater Supply Sustainability Indices for Urban Green Spaces Consumption

Currently sustainable development approach is regarded as an integrated framework that enables long term planning and management with minimum threats to the environment. In the arid and semi-arid climate of Iran where the impacts of climate change along rapid population growth and industrialization briskly affect the limited water resources, sustainability-oriented approaches can be used to develop water management scenarios. On the other hand, the emerging need for enhanced urban green spaces, due to their valuable services and functions, necessitate allocating sufficient water resources for irrigation and maintenance of urban green infrastructure. Regarding scarce water resources, corresponding supply and demand scenarios should be investigated. Since groundwater is the principal water resources that is generally used for green spaces in many urban areas across centralIran, this paper focuses on introducing criteria that can define sustainable abstraction from groundwater resources. However, in cases of severe climatic situations when adequate amount of water cannot be used for green spaces, it is necessary to prioritize the green spaces within urban areas for water allocation. This paper also suggests developing indices for urban areas and valuing green spaces. Hence, the joint use of quantified water resources and urban indices leads to developing decision making scenarios which can be scored and rated in order to choose the most appropriate scenario.

Keywords:

groundwater resources , sustainable development indices , urban green spaces