Generation of Groundwater Zones for Selection of Prospective Suitable Water Harvesting Structure Sites for Sustainable Water Supply Towards the Agricultural Development

Abstract

Identification of groundwater potential is important for the preparation of management plan of groundwater resource in watershed scale. Groundwater potential zone in watershed scale is identified using GIS, remote sensing satellite data, and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis technique. Different thematic layers, i.e. geological formation, lineament, soil, etc. were used for the identification of groundwater potential zones, while groundwater quality parameters, i.e. hardness, pH, etc. were used for the preparation of groundwater quality index map. The present study focused on identification of possible groundwater potential zones and groundwater quality index both in terms of quantity and quality. The Analytic Hierarchy Approach is utilized to identify the groundwater potential zones. Conclusively, 27.1% area falls under low–medium groundwater potential zone and 9.3% area falls under above the permissible limit of water quality. In total, 240 suitable water harvesting structures, namely storage tank (120 nos), percolation tank (70 nos), stop dam (34 nos) and check dam (16 nos) with their sites, were identified and suggested for water harvesting to enhance the groundwater conditions to meet the scarcity of water resources in agriculture and domestic use.