Studying the Requirement of Water Police to Control Groundwater Resources in the Villages Iij, Jovin and Soufiabad of Sorkheh - Semnan

Depletion of groundwater is one of the main challenges in Iran especially in the arid and semi-arid lands. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that affect the reduction of groundwater levels and provide a water police strategy for a better management and groundwater monitoring in Sorkheh city of Semnan province. The statistical population in the quantitative part of the research includes villagers living in Iij, Jouin and Sufi Abad. The sample size was determined 160 using Cochran's formula, and factor analyses were used for the data. In the qualitative section of the councils, the regional water company and village administrators were used to analyze the data, the design of mental mapping and content analysis. According to the factor analysis results, water police factor can determine 87.4 of variance compared with other factors which had a high influence on the finding. Based on the results of multi-criteria analysis, the most important reason for the reduction of groundwater aquifers in these villages is the overexploitation and drilling of unauthorized wells. Besides, farm cultivation with high water need can increase water consumption causing stress on the water resources in the study area. According to the conducted survey, the water police can be considered as an approach to monitor and control unconventional exploitation of groundwater resources. On the other hand, to achieve this goal knowledge and preparing the necessary equipment can play a key role in this section. Thus, it needs necessary plans to establish it in the related organization.
Extended Abstract   
1-Introduction
Water resources management, especially groundwater, is important in an arid and semi-arid land. Excessive harvesting of groundwater in the world has caused significant groundwater level depletion. One significant strategy is using continuous management systems to prevent unsuitable exploitation of groundwater resources. These systems can help proper using of groundwater resources on the local scale and exploitation of these resources. Studies of local groundwater management in various countries, including Pakistan, India, Egypt, and Mexico, based on various social and political contexts, indicated both failure and success in the sections of demand and management of groundwater supply. Water police can control facilities, infrastructure, activities that affect the health and safety of water resources and aquatic environments. Therefore, water police may be needed to evaluate the existing conditions and access the ideas and hints of local communities regional.
2-Materials and Methods
The necessity for the establishment of water police was considered as a strategy to control groundwater management and to tackle improper using of groundwater resources in the study area. The target community is the people who live in villages of Ej, Javin, Sufiabad, and Sorkheh in Semnan province. This study was carried out in two parts, including library and field study. Field data were collected in both quantitative and qualitative sections by field observations and field trips, questionnaires and comprehensive interviews among people. Thus, 21 questions were prepared according to the five-point Likert scale (from very low: 1 to very high: 5). Cronbach's alpha and split-half tests were applied to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. Permanent residents in the three villages were selected as the statistical sample.  The number of samples using Cochran formula was calculated, 160 people.
3-Results and Discussion
Results indicated that the average age of the whole sample is 40.9 years old. The maximum age of respondents is 78 years, while the minimum age is 17 years old. Gender distribution implies that 85.62% of the sample is male and the remains 23.75% is female. The highest level of education among the selected sample was below basic education or diploma with 50.62% and the post-graduated level was PhD with 1.2%. The pattern of water consumption is currently undergoing drastic changes (10 years ago). In the past, 68.75 percent of the water consumption in the agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry supplied by qanat and 31.25 percent by wells. But, nowadays qanat supply 29.37 percent and wells supply 70.62 percent of water demand in the study area. Based on the results, residents' attitudes toward each item showed a significant difference. Regarding the first statement that the strategies applied to groundwater resources, there was no proper strategy to control and prevent well drilling (attitude: low) and to create water police for conservation and protection of water resources. Water resources (attitude: high) that are under the control of a military or a governmental firm (attitude: moderate) seem to be necessary. The results of the KMO test were 0.961 which is greater than 0.7 and Bartlett's value is less than 0.05 both indicating that the data are suitable for the factor analysis method. A suitable strategy for conservation of groundwater resources was calculated based on the relationship between the variables and the researchers' viewpoints, using the theoretical foundations, the named components and their explained variance for the attitude of the residents towards the water police. Accordingly, the component of water police was a proper approach to protect groundwater resources which determined 87.13 percent of the variance. The second component showed a variance of 4.98%. Groundwater resources with suitable water quality are required according to water demand. It is a potential source of water for agriculture, industry and drinking water. The results imply that the study area needs a constant management system which have been proposed as an effective strategy in some studies.
Social, economic, cultural and local laws dimensions of local communities can be investigated which can help the proper control of groundwater consumption.  A continuous management system is very important in Semnan province and the study area, which has been cited as an effective strategy in some studies.
4-Conclusion
According to the results, the establishment of an organization named, Water Police, is important which aims at monitoring groundwater extraction that follows existing water laws and preventing exploitation of abusers dealing with offenders. This water police group can prevent the drilling of unauthorized wells and the sealing of these wells in the study area which can help ensure the sustainable exploitation of the valuable water resource preventing groundwater levels depletion.