Evaluating the effectiveness of flood spreading scheme from the perspective of marginal communities (Case study: Jajarm flood spreading)

Flood spreading schemes have been implemented in Iran to control floods, feed groundwater aquifers, improve vegetation, and increase pasture production. The proper evaluation of these projects is possible when the scheme is evaluated based on the opinions of residents and users. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Jajarm flood spreading from the neighboring villages' viewpoints. This study is an applied and field research in terms of control and supervision. The statistical community of this research is villagers living in the margins of the aquifer in the Jajarm flood spreading. The data collection tool is a questionnaire. To assess the validity of the questionnaire, the opinions of watershed management experts were used, and to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha was applied. The results show that the inhabitants of neighboring villages have positive viewpoints about implementing flood-spreading projects. Also, the outcomes show that the highest effect of flood spreading in villagers' opinion is in reducing the flood damages on residential buildings, farms, and gardens.