Deciphering groundwater potential zones using MIF technique and GIS: A study from Tirupati area, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

The availability of water resources is currently a crucial issue in Tirupati, India. Water demand for urban development, growing population, industrialization and tourism have been diminishing the existing resources. Moreover, the study area located in a hard rock region under semi-arid climatic conditions is facing intense water shortages owing to monsoon failures, which results in critical overdrafts of groundwater resources. Therefore, proper management and conservation of existing limited groundwater resources are required to overcome the exacerbated situation. In this study, groundwater potential zones were assessed using eight influential thematic layers in a GIS environment. The eight layers including lithology, lineament density, geomorphology, land use/land cover, drainage density, soils, rainfall, and slope maps were generated and assigned fixed scores and weights in accordance with their potentiality to hold water using multi-influence factor (MIF) technique and weighted overlay methods in GIS. The end results acquired categorised the study area into four classes, viz., poor, moderate, good and very good zones, each of which contributed to 89.99 km2 (23.17%), 181.10 km2 (46.62%), 101.75 km2 (26.19%), and 15.64 km2 (4.02%), respectively. The study results will benefit sustainable groundwater resources management in the hard rock region of the study area.