Overpopulation, economic growth, moving towards further development and climate change has led to severely water scarcity especially in arid and semi-arid regions. The aim of this study is to understand the historical context of social learning in basin governance and identify the conditions for facilitating social learning. The study population was Zayandeh-Roud Council of Integrated River Basin Management (ZRCIRM). Data were collected through face to face interview via semi-structured questionnaire. To achieve the research objectives, “social learning for integrated water managing” and “Ulrich's critical systems heuristic” frameworks were used. The results showed that, although the new working group has increased the cooperation between organizations involved in watershed management, but there is little inter-provincial cooperation. On the other hand, the share of “central office of integrated water resources management” in decision making should be increased. Lack of proper water database and accounting in basin and no inter-provincial cooperation has caused the basin council with no effectiveness and it is necessary to replace other type of river basin patterns such as commission and organization. Furthermore, it is important to shift from current targets of basin including providing public water for society and supply-driven management approaches to management practices based on empathy and consensus and participation of all stakeholders to reduce conflicts within the basin. Improving processes of watershed management requires comprehensive and integrated river basin management instead of bargaining-based and top-down allocation of water. Experts and decision-maker of basin has no expertise in system science (for integrating indigenous and engineering knowledge) and social sciences. Keywords: social learning, integrated management, wicked problem, river basin organizations, basin council, Zayandeh-Roud basin.