The escalating water scarcity crisis in Iran, a country located within the world’s arid and semi-arid belt, has exposed the sustainability of social life and the trajectory of industrial development to unprecedented threats (Shiklomanov, 1997; UNEP/GEMS, 1995). Given the significant decline in conventional water reserves and the widespread land subsidence across the country’s plains, transitioning from a linear, disposal-oriented paradigm toward circular water economy models and the utilization of unconventional water resources has become imperative (White & Case, 2023). The reuse of industrial wastewater is framed not only as an environmental necessity for preventing the contamination of vital water resources but also as a strategic asset for achieving sustainable industrial development (Mihai & Minea, 2021; Smol, 2023). The objective of this comprehensive scientific research is to critically examine Iran’s legal framework and identify legislative and structural gaps as well as overlapping institutional jurisdictions in the field of industrial wastewater reuse.
Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach and documentary (library-based) research method, this study comprehensively examines Iran’s documentary corpus, including the Constitution, general and specific laws, regulations, technical guidelines, and upstream policy documents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The legal assessment and analysis of legislative texts are based on four main indicators: “clarity of the ownership regime,” “separation of administrative jurisdictions,” “effectiveness of enforcement mechanisms,” and “compatibility with modern monitoring and treatment technologies.” Furthermore, in order to develop a context-specific and effective model, the experiences and legal frameworks of leading countries, including Spain, South Korea, Japan, and Türkiye, are comparatively examined (Act on Promotion and Support of Water Reuse, 2010; Royal Decree 1085/2024; Water Cycle Basic Act, 2014).
An examination of Iran’s legal system reveals that the country’s legal framework remains dominated by the traditional disposal-oriented paradigm and lacks specific and coherent legislation governing wastewater reuse (Bahrami et al., 2023; Salehi Arjmand et al., 2003). Major structural legislative gaps identified include profound ambiguity regarding the ownership regime of raw and treated wastewater; the absence of long-term contractual frameworks, such as Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models; the ineffectiveness and lack of deterrence of environmental fines in comparison with the substantial costs of advanced treatment; and the lack of legal recognition of digital evidence generated by online monitoring systems in judicial proceedings (Fair Water Distribution Law, 1982; Waste Management Law, 2004). At the institutional level, overlapping responsibilities and structural conflicts of interest within the Ministry of Energy constitute a major obstacle to the development of an efficient wastewater market.
Achieving industrial sustainability in Iran requires a fundamental transformation in the legal perspective, shifting from a discharge-oriented approach toward a utilization-oriented approach (Smol, 2023; World Bank, 2023). Drawing on international experiences, this study proposes the formulation and enactment of a “Comprehensive Industrial Wastewater Reuse Law in Iran.” Such legislation should clarify the ownership regime of wastewater, establish an independent cross-sectoral regulatory body to address jurisdictional overlaps, introduce economic incentives such as tax credits, and institutionalize closed-loop and sustainable industrial hydrological cycles by upgrading technical standards to risk-based biological safety criteria grounded in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) (Mulas et al., 2025; Royal Decree 1085/2024).