Arya Farkhondeh - B.Sc. Student, Department of Water Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Mohammad Taghi Sattari - Assistant Professor, Department of Water Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Due to the recent years of drought in Iran and the crisis resulting from the drying up of Lake Urmia, management of the water resources leading to this lake for the purpose of restoring it has turned into a major concern for the water section managers acting in the Urmia Lake Basin. Mahabadchay is a relatively important river in the catchment area of Lake Urmia and suppliers part of the lake water. The purpose of this study is to use the WEAP model for managing Mahabad Dam Reservoir under different management scenarios with emphasis on providing the environmental water right of Lake Urmia during dry periods. To this end, a 10% reduction in the agricultural water demand through several steps in seven different management scenarios was considered and the results obtained from these scenarios were compared with those obtained from the reference scenario (where no demand reduction was considered). The performance indexes were used to evaluate the reservoir performance and to compare the results. In all the studied scenarios, the first and second priorities towards satisfying the downstream needs were supplying drinking water and supplying environmental water right of the lake respectively. The results showed that the agricultural demand had to be reduced by 70% for providing the drinking water and environmental water right, and achieving stable conditions during drought periods.

Drought, Simulation, Reservoir Operation, Mahabad Dam, WEAP