Abstract
This study attempted to delineate and map potential groundwater recharge zones of the Singida, semi-arid, fractured crystalline basement aquifer using open source remote sensing and GIS software. Various thematic maps such as lithology/hydrogeology, soil, land-cover/use, slope, lineament density, drainage density and rainfall distribution were integrated in QGIS software. Vector input layers were rasterized and resampled using QGIS wrap projection function to make sure that the grid cells are of the same size. Reclassification using SAGA and GRASS reclass algorithms in QGIS was carried out to realign the factor classes in a consistent scale, and reclassification to a scale of 1 to 5 was carried out to harmonize the results. The study identified a number of potential areas for groundwater recharge, groundwater exploration, groundwater development and potential areas for artificial groundwater recharge. Potential groundwater recharge zones for the Singida semi-arid fractured aquifer are restricted to areas with high lineament density, cultivated areas, grassland and flat to gentle slopes. The potential of groundwater recharge is also observed in areas with low drainage density. The delineated zones provide a good understanding of the potential recharge zones, which are a starting point for recharge zone protection. This blended approach can be utilized for carrying out suitability analysis using the weighted overlay analysis approach. Areas designated good and very good are recommended for artificial recharging structures as an alternative technique for enhancing groundwater recharge through rainwater harvesting. This will help to augment groundwater storage in this semi-arid environment.
Highlights
Groundwater plays a key role as an integral part of national water management strategies in many countries in the world
After various thematic map classes were assigned with different numerical values with respect to groundwater recharge potential, they were converted into a scale of 1–5, and each class was categorized into very good to very poor just to depict the influence of each class to groundwater recharge potential (Figure 13)
Delineation of potential groundwater recharge zones of the Singida, semi-arid basement aquifer has been carried out using open source QGIS software with its inherent plugins and algorithms
Summary
Groundwater plays a key role as an integral part of national water management strategies in many countries in the world. It is an important resource for food security, human health, ecosystems, economic and social prosperity of humankind. It is the largest available source of fresh water lying beneath the ground [1,2]. Due to overexploitation for various uses, groundwater is declining steadily at a rate of approximately 545 km per year [4,5,6] in both humid and dry areas. There are inadequate details regarding how much of the overexploited amount of groundwater is contributed to by regional, Hydrology 2020, 7, 28; doi:10.3390/hydrology7020028 www.mdpi.com/journal/hydrology
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