Identification of groundwater potential zones of the Kumari river basin, India: an RS & GIS based semi-quantitative approach

Abstract

Groundwater is envisaged as a valuable common resource. In the present day, groundwater is declining very rapidly due to human intervention. Stress on groundwater in the semiarid locale of West Bengal, especially in Purulia district, is very high due to immense demand and overexploitation. The fundamental goal of the study is to discover potential groundwater zones for the appraisal of groundwater availability in the Kumari river basin, India. Survey of India topographical maps, elevation data (ASTER DEM 30 m), satellite imageries (Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2) and Google Earth images were analyzed using RS-GIS software (ArcGIS 10.3, ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2, MicroImages TNT MIP Pro 2016) to prepare various thematic data layers like altitude, slope angle, drainage density, geomorphology, soil type, geology, land use/land cover, lineament density, distance from rivers and mean annual rainfall. All prepared maps were changed with GIS software utilizing the raster converter apparatus in the raster space. Weighted layer for each thematic data layer was statistically computed by assigning weight values to individual parameters. Class rank was assigned in light of their significance to underground water recharge. Finally, a groundwater potential zone map was prepared utilizing analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and five distinct zones were arranged accordingly. ROC (receiver operating characteristics) curve and groundwater depth map were prepared using the field data to validate the groundwater zonation map of the Kumari river basin.