Application of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System in Groundwater Study

Abstract

The availability of water, both in quantity and quality is the prime factor in deciding the sustainable growth of mankind and also for the development of towns and cities. With the advance in space technology, now it is possible to employ remote sensing techniques to estimate surface and subsurface water over large areas. The need for remote sensing based groundwater survey is necessary to define all possible features connected with localization of groundwater. Satellite data provide quick and beneficial baseline information about numerous factors that directly or indirectly control the occurrence and movement of groundwater such as geomorphology, soil types, slope, land use/land cover, drainage patterns, lineaments, etc. (Jha et al. 2007). These features are extracted from the appropriate satellite data products and integrated with the thematic details obtained from topographic sheets of the desired scale. The use of conventional techniques (e.g., geophysical, geostatistical, numerical modelling, etc.) for groundwater management, is often limited by the lack of adequate data. Frequent and long-term monitoring of groundwater and vadose zone systems by using all these conventional methods is expensive, laborious, time-consuming and destructive (Jha and Chowdary 2007). Therefore, innovative technologies, such as remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), have an immense role to play (Jha and Chowdary 2007). Airborne and spaceborne imagery have also become better and increasingly detailed. The recent development of viewers like Google Earth, Bhuvan ISRO Portal etc. with very high resolution has allowed users to explore 2D/3D representation of the surface of the Earth more accurately. The application package ‘WARIS’ (Web enabled Water Resources Information System) developed by ISRO provides a comprehensive, credible and contextual view of India’s water resources data along with allied natural resources data and information. It will allow users to search, access, visualize, understand, analyze and look into context and study spatial patterns.