Use of earth observation images and GIS techniques for groundwater exploration in hard rock terrain

Prolonged drought and improper maintenance of water resources increased the demands on ground-water supplies resulting are focuses for the need to evaluate ground-water resources in the hard rock terrain. In recent years, Remote-Sensing methods have been increasingly recognized as a means of obtaining crucial geo-scientific data for both regional and site-specific investigations. This work aims to develop and apply integrated methods combining the information obtained by geo-hydrological field mapping and those obtained by analyzing multi-source remotely sensed data in a GIS environment for better understanding the Groundwater condition in hard rock terrain. In this study, digitally enhanced Landsat ETM+ data was used to extract information on geology, geomorphology. Hill-Shading techniques are applied to SRTM DEM data to enhance terrain perspective views and to extract Geomorphological features and morphologically defined structures through the means of lineament analysis. A combination of Spectral information from Landsat ETM+ data plus spatial information from SRTM-DEM data is used to address the groundwater potential of alluvium, colluvium and fractured crystalline rocks in study area. The spatial distribution of groundwater potential zones shows regional patterns related to lithologies, lineaments, drainage systems and landforms. High yielding wells and springs are often related to large lineaments and corresponding structural features such as dykes. The results demonstrate that the integration of remote sensing, GIS, traditional fieldwork and models provide a powerful tool in the assessment and management of water resources and development of groundwater exploration plans.

Groundwater Potential Zone Delineation in Hard Rock Terrain for Sustainable Groundwater Development and Management in South Madhya Pradesh, India

In view of the vital significance of water resources and issues emerging from their temporal and spatial distribution and utilization posing serious problems to the land resources and to the society United Nations has identified sustainable management of water resources (SDG 6) as one of the seventeen major Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this perspective, the purpose of the study is to identify the groundwater potential zones in the hard rock terrain of Betul-Chhindwara Region, Madhya Pradesh, India, using AHP technique. The study area comprises the sub-watersheds of Tawa river (Narmada basin), Tapi river (Tapi basin), Kanhan and Pench rivers (Godavari basin). Various thematic layers such as geomorphology, geology, physiography, rainfall, soil, slope, lineament, drainage density, groundwater depth, and land use/ land cover were developed. The analytical hierarchy process helps to delineate groundwater prospect zones, which are categorized into five classes, i.e. very poor, poor, moderate, good, and very good based on objective, criteria, and preference. The good, moderate, and poor groundwater potential zones cover 4815 sq. km., 6423 sq. km, and 4857 sq. km, respectively, comprising 22.46%, 29.96%, and 22.65% of the entire region under study. The result indicates that 15.22% of the area comprising 3262.10 sq. km have very good groundwater potential whereas 9.71% (2080 sq. km) has very poor groundwater potential. The obtained result has been verified through field check based on the yield data collected from 16 bore wells in the study area. The accuracy of the results was 75% that proves the efficiency of the adopted techniques. Thus, this study will be efficient for the sustainable development and management of groundwater in the study area.