Author(s): Aishwarya Awari; Dheeraj Kumar
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Sustainable groundwater management; Groundwater potential zones (GWPZs); GIS; WIOA; MIF
Abstract: For the hill agrarians, water shortage is a major issue. Growing population and industrial growth have created a need for land for food and fodder, posing a challenge to the trade in land and water resources. The present study emphasizes the effectiveness of the integration of Weighted Overlay Index Analysis (WOIA) and Multi-Influencing Factor (MIF) techniques with Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) in groundwater management, specifically in the delineation of the groundwater potential zones. In this study, various geo-environmental factors, such as lithology, geomorphology, land use/land cover, the density of stream network, slope and soil texture are used to identify the GWPZs and to classify the spatially distributed groundwater potential of the Nanak Sagar catchment, Uttarakhand. The WOIA is performed in ArcGIS, using the weights of different themes for delineation of the GWPZs of the basin. Results indicate that, out of 407.20 km2 area, 108.66 km2 (26.67 %) have very good potential of groundwater while 124.77 km2 (30.62 %) have good potential of groundwater. Among the different geoenvironmental factors, lithology, geomorphology and soil texture have decisive roles in the occurrence of groundwater of the basin. Thereafter, feasible methods for sustainable groundwater management are given.
Year: 2022