Assessment of Groundwater Potential Zones and Resource Sustainability Through Geospatial Techniques: A Case Study of Kamina Sub-Watershed of Bhima River Basin, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Groundwater potential zones perform a crucial function in hard rock terrain. With this view, the study has been carried out to identify the groundwater prolific zones using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) in Kamina sub-watershed of Bhima River Basin, Shirur Taluka of Pune District, Maharashtra, India. The thematic maps such as geology, geomorphology, DEM, slope (%), rainfall, soil, drainage density, dug well density, borewell density, land use/land cover mapswere generated to identify the potential zones. Saaty’s Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is an efficient tool for the delineation of groundwater potential zones. The AHP proposes a weight for each evaluation criteria according to the decision maker’s pairwise comparisons of the criteria. The hierarchy is built depending on the degree of influence made by each factor on groundwater potentiality. Finally, the AHP combines the criteria weight and the option scores. The ground water potential zone map so generated is divided into four classes (very low, low, moderate and high) depending on the possibility of groundwater potential. The resultant map depicts that 15.91, 23.3, 23.96, and 36.83% of the area represents ‘‘poor,’’ ‘‘moderate,’’ ‘‘high,’’ and ‘‘very high’’ groundwater favorable zones, respectively. The highest potential area is located toward eastern and southern region because of flood plains facilitating high infiltration, drainage of Ghodriver and thick soil cover. The areas having low potential is toward the basin boundary and northern parts of the study area due to highly dissected plateau, poor soil depth, steep slopes and low infiltration rate. The findings of the studycan helpin the formulation of an efficient management plan for sustainable development of the area.