Utilities Policy 70 (2021) 101215 Available online 28 April 2021 0957-1787/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Supporting Sustainable Rural Groundwater Demand Management with Fuzzy Decision Analysis: A Case Study in Iran Mohammad Ali Arasteh a, b, * , Yaghoub Farjami c a Ph.D. Student, Department of Information Technology, University of Qom, Iran b Head of GIS Group, Yazd Water and Wastewater Company, Iran c Department of Information Technology, University of Qom, Iran A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Consumption behavior factors Fuzzy analytic network process Sustainable groundwater management ABSTRACT Insuffcient clean freshwater has become a growing concern for sustainable development in countries with arid and semi-arid regions. Co-production of knowledge through active communication of experts, government, and local stakeholders can serve as a strategy to cope with water scarcity. Water consumption behavior is a key component of water resource management. This study aims to understand water consumption factors and behavior in a rural area with arid conditions. The study is a mixed-method one conducted through fuzzy decision analysis (i.e., selecting criteria with Fuzzy Delphi and rating them with Fuzzy Analytic Network Process). An empirical case study was conducted on the Akramieh rural area located in Yazd Province, Iran. The results indicate that a change in consumers’ culture can have a signifcant effect in reducing water consumption. Recommendations have been made to encourage the adaptation of farming families to water scarcity. Through public schools and mosques, people can become aware of the conditions and consequences of drought as a crisis, and alternative methods of irrigation can be taught to farmers. 1. Introduction Over recent decades, due to the rapid growth of population, eco- nomic development, and agricultural expansion, there has been a remarkable rise in water demand and, thus, water shortage in the populated arid areas of central and western Asia and northern Africa, with the annual per capita water availability of fewer than 1000 m 3 . The burgeoning population (Jafari Shalamzari and Zhang, 2018). The water crisis in Iran is entering a new paradigm where its consequences have become visible in the daily lives of millions of people. Nowadays, the average annual water consumption in Iran is estimated to be around 96 billion cubic meters (BCM), a fgure that is about 8% higher than the total renewable water resources (89 BCM) and about 80% higher than the scarcity threshold level in the country (about 53 BCM) (Mesgaran and Azadi, 2018). The solution to this water problem is obvious; con- sumption should be regulated and reduced, water productivity should be improved, and wastewater should be treated and reused in the system. However, managing the economic and social costs associated with these potential remedies is not a trivial undertaking (ibid). In this case, changing the current water consumption patterns and consumer behavior is essential. Also, the international trading of agricultural products can play a signifcant role in redistributing water resources because the traded goods contain a large amount of water (Hekmatnia et al., 2020). So far, various studies have addressed the effects of different pa- rameters on urban water consumption. 1 They have also used different methods to rank the factors affecting water consumption. Fan et al. (2013) investigated 247 households in eight villages in the Wei River basin, where three types of improved water supply systems are imple- mented. The results showed that the domestic water consumption in liters per capita per day was signifcantly correlated with the pattern of water supply and the area of vegetable gardens area. It also had signif- icant negative correlations with family size and the age of household heads. Traditional hygiene habits, water appliance use, and vegetable gardening remain dominant behaviors in villages with access to improved water supplies. Keshavarzi et al. (2006) searched for the most critical factors affecting rural water consumption in Ramjard, Fars Province, Iran. They found that in rural households, three criteria, including garden size, greenhouse size, and irrigation time per month, had the most signifcant * Corresponding author. Department of Information Technology, University of Qom, Iran. E-mail address: ma.arasteh@stu.qom.ac.ir (M.A. Arasteh). 1 Urban water consumption in this study refers to pipelined water and community water systems distributed by Abfa utility included ground water. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Utilities Policy journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jup https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2021.101215 Received 12 November 2020; Received in revised form 30 March 2021; Accepted 30 March 2021