The issue of water in Iran and the world is more than a technical and managerial issue; it has profound bio-ecological, economic, social, cultural, and semantic dimensions, the understanding of which requires attention to the lived experiences of social actors. The present study, with a qualitative approach and based on Alfred Schutz's interpretive phenomenology. The aim of the article is to understand how citizens give meaning to water and to examine the role of these meanings in shaping their attitudes, consumption behaviors, and environmental actions. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed using a combination of phenomenological reduction, open, and selective coding. According to the findings, water in the lived experience of the participants is not simply a natural resource, but a multilayered phenomenon with spiritual, moral, religious, and identity-based burdens. These meanings are represented in the form of concepts such as divine blessing, trust, purity, blessing, and life, and act as an internal mechanism in regulating consumption behavior and avoiding waste. At the same time, the findings indicate a decrease in the sanctity and spirituality of water in the experience of younger generations, which is influenced by easy access, commodification of water, and weakening of intergenerational value transmission. The conclusion of the study shows that ignoring the semantic and cultural dimensions of water weakens environmental ethics and the effectiveness of water management policies. Therefore, the proposal to integrate socio-cultural approaches with policymaking can help to consume water responsibly and achieve sustainable development of water resources.