Identification of groundwater potential zones and artificial recharge sites in Jaisamand catchment using remote sensing and geographical information system

The aim of this study was to delineate groundwater potential zones in the Jaisamand catchment of Udaipur district, Rajasthan. To meet growing demand for groundwater, it is essential to identify the groundwater potential areas through scientific approach. It is in this context the remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) technique was applied to demarcate the ground water potential zones in the study area. In the present study, thematic layers such as slope, relief, soil, geology, geomorphology, drainage, land use, recharge, post monsoon groundwater depth and transmissivity were prepared and integrated using the Spatial Analyst Tool in Arc GIS 10 software implying weighted overlay methods to delineate the groundwater potential zones and artificial recharge sites. In weighted overlay analysis rank value assigned for each class of all thematic data layers according to their influence on groundwater hydrology and factor weighted values was assigned according to analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The maximum area shows moderate groundwater potential and it covers 49.65% area. The 33.21% area shows poor groundwater potential whereas 4.32% area shows very poor groundwater potential The area, which is favorable for artificial recharge is 279 km₂, which contributes only 15.02% of the total study area