Identification of ground water recharge potential zones by using remote sensing and geographic information system

Abstract

<p><strong>Background: </strong>The ground water is the most precious and important resource around the world and is decreasing day by day. In connection, there is a need to bound the potential groundwater zones. The geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques have become important tools to locate groundwater potential zones.</p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: This research has been carried out to identify ground water potential zones in Nuthankal Mandal with help of GIS and remote sensing techniques. In order to evaluate the ground water potential zones, different thematic maps such as geology, slope, soil, drainage density map, land use and land cover and surface water bodies i.e., lakes and other using remotely-sensed data as well as toposheets and secondary data, collected from concern department. The prepared layers are further used for mapping and identification of ground water potential zones.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: In this study ground water potential zones are demarked with the help of composite maps, which are generated using GIS tools. The accurate information to obtain the parameters that can be considered for identifying the ground water potential zone such as geology, slope, drainage density and lineament density are generated using the satellite data and survey of India (SOI) Topo-sheets, the groundwater potential zones are classified into five categories like very poor, poor, moderate, good & very good. The use of suggested methodology is demonstrated for a selected study area in Nuthankal Mandal.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: This groundwater potential information was also used for identification of suitable locations for extraction of water.</p>