Groundwater and agriculture potential mapping of Mewat District, Haryana, India

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Groundwater is one of the most valuable natural resources on the planet, sustaining all human activity. It is necessary not just for human survival, but also for a region’s economic and social advancement. Also, agriculture and allied businesses provide a living for more than half of India’s population. Long-term advantages from sustainable agriculture will be necessary to achieve sustainable resource development and management. For successful agricultural and groundwater management, it is vital to assess the groundwater and agricultural potential of an area. This research work may contribute to optimizing the choice of location for future drilling and increase the chances to take water from productive structures which will satisfy the ever-increasing water demand of the local population, especially for agriculture. The current study is an attempt to assess the groundwater and agriculture potential zones in Haryana’s southern region of Mewat district. In order to achieve the objectives, thematic layers such as geology, geomorphology, lineament density, slope, drainage density, soil, and land use/land cover of the research region are prepared for the mapping of groundwater potential zones. For agriculture potential thematic layers such as Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Slope, Rainfall, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and Soil Moisture Index (SMI) were prepared. To combine all thematic layers, an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) assessment approach is applied. Individual themes and their accompanying categories are awarded a knowledge base weightage ranging from 1 to 5 according to their suitability to hold groundwater and potential for agriculture. All thematic maps are combined into a composite groundwater potential and agriculture potential map of the research region using the weighted overlay function. The groundwater potential map and the agriculture potential map were further subdivided into four categories, ranging from very low to excellent potential zones. It has been found that 69% and 60% of the area has moderate to good groundwater and agriculture potential, respectively, and 20% and 22% of the area has excellent and agriculture potential, respectively. This groundwater and agriculture potential information will help identify acceptable places for water extraction and efficient farming practices.