Assessment of Groundwater Potential Zones by Using Geoinformatics in Angolelana Tera Woreda, North Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Groundwater is the least known resource in terms of volume, location, quality, and spatial distribution. This problem is further aggravated in Ethiopia due to a lack of a groundwater spatial database system. The study was conducted in Angolelana Tera Woreda which covers a total area of 782.48 km2. The main objective of this study was to identify and delineate groundwater potential areas by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques. Multi-criteria decision analysis method in GIS environment was employed to identify groundwater potential zone. To do this, the geological, geomorphologic, slope, soil, lineament, land use/land cover and drainage density data were used. By integrating these data in GIS environment, therefore, groundwater potential zones were identified, and the output was classified as very high, high, moderate, low and very low potential zones. Based on the result, 109.2 km2 (12.9%), 129.53 km2 (16.55%), 435.52 km2 (55.66%), 63.28 km2 (8.09%) and 53.23 km2 (6.8%) of the study area has very high, high, moderate, low and very low groundwater potential, respectively. It can be concluded that relatively the study area has high groundwater potential. So in order to utilize this important resource for different uses, high resolution groundwater potential map and spatial based groundwater analysis techniques should be required. Therefore, the woreda administrator bodies and other concerned stakeholders who might utilize and manage the available groundwater resource of the study area should use this research output as an input to develop an overall master plan for groundwater exploitation and management.