Role of RS and GIS in Mapping of Groundwater Potential Zones for Panzara River, Maharashtra, India Using AHP

Abstract

As a result of the increasing demand for water in recent years, there is a truly urgent need for reassessment of groundwater resources in the light of modern efficient techniques for better managing and protecting of the aquifer system. In this study an attempt was made to map groundwater potential zones for the Panzara River in north Maharashtra, India, using GIS and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) decision making technique with an aerial of 111623.98 ha (1116.23 km2 ). ArcGIS 10.8 was used to generate a number of thematic maps and the ranking has been given for each individual parameters of each thematic map by using weighted overlay analysis. The potential zones were identified in terms of poor, moderate, good and excellent zones with an area of 25749.23 ha (257.49 km2 ), 58817.88 ha (588.17 km2 ), 25869.91 ha (258.69 km2 ) and 1186.71 ha (11.86 km2 ) respectively. The results demonstrate that the groundwater resources in the study area require careful management and soil and water conservation planning. The generated model will help as a guideline for planning a suitable water storage and conservation plan in the future and thereby help maintaining a groundwater table and future extraction plan in the study area.