Delineating groundwater prospect zones in a region with extreme climatic conditions using GIS and remote sensing techniques: A case study from central India

Abstract

Sustainable groundwater management of an extreme climatic region is very important from both social and economic point of view. This study attempts to delineate the groundwater potential zones of Sonepur district, Odisha, which falls under an extreme climatic region, using remote sensing, geographical information system and Saaty’s analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Different ancillary data, multiple data sets obtained from LANDSAT 8 OLI and ASTER Level-1T were used in conjunction with Cartosat-1 imagery to study the detailed physical attributes of the study area and to prepare the groundwater prospect map using a weighted overlay method in ArcGIS 10.4 software. The AHP technique was used for determining the weights of each layer. From the groundwater prospect map, it was found that 52% of the area belongs to the moderate groundwater prospect zone followed by good to very good, very good to excellent (32%) and poor (16%) groundwater prospect zones. Statistical analysis of the number of existing wells in each of these water potential zones and their water level was used to verify the accuracy of the water potentiality estimated in this study. The groundwater potentiality map prepared as a part of this study would serve as an important tool for identifying suitable zones for rainwater harvesting and also for managing groundwater abstraction for a safe and sustainable water supply.