Water scarcity is one of the problems affecting people’s livelihoods in arid and semi-arid areas, requiring a sustainable balance between water demands and water resources. This study was carried out to assess temporal and spatial distribution of water supply and demand in order to help managers to overcome water scarcity in Jiroft basin, southeastern Iran. Spatial supply and demand of water were mapped and standardized rainfall index (SPI) was used to assess drought for a 20 years period (1994–2014). Supply and demand of water were matched in 23% of the basin area, mostly concentrated in the cold zones. Water supply was reduced up to 80% during dry years, declining water supply-demand matching to 5% of the basin area. Shrub-grass rangelands and deciduous woodlands were the most valuable land covers for conservation with $ 1,100 and $ 936 per hectare water prices respectively. Water value dropped more than 72% in mismanaged ecosystems (p < 0.01). Our finding showed that water supply-demand ratio can be used as a proxy of ecosystem health and water-yield, which can provide a good information for water resources managers to reduce the threats of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions.

缺水是影响干旱和半干旱地区人民生活的问题之一，需要在水资源需求和水资源之间保持可持续的平衡。这项研究旨在评估供水和需求的时空分布，以帮助管理人员克服伊朗东南部吉罗夫特盆地的水资源短缺问题。绘制了水的空间供求关系图，并使用标准化降雨指数（SPI）评估了20年期间（1994-2014年）的干旱。流域面积的23％满足水的供需需求，大部分集中在寒冷地区。干旱年份的供水量减少了80％，供需量下降到流域面积的5％。灌木草牧场和落叶林地是保护价值最高的土地，每公顷1美元 每公顷水价分别为100美元和936美元。在管理不善的生态系统中，水价下降了72％以上（p <0.01）。我们的发现表明，水供需比可以用作生态系统健康和水产量的指标，这可以为水资源管理者提供一个很好的信息，以减少干旱和半干旱地区水资源短缺的威胁。