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GIS for the assessment of the groundwater recharge potential zone

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Water resources in Taiwan are unevenly distributed in spatial and temporal domains. Effectively utilizing the water resources is an imperative task due to climate change. At present, groundwater contributes 34% of the total annual water supply and is an important fresh water resource. However, over-exploitation has decreased groundwater availability and has led to land subsidence. Assessing the potential zone of groundwater recharge is extremely important for the protection of water quality and the management of groundwater systems. The Chih-Pen Creek basin in eastern Taiwan is examined in this study to assess its groundwater resources potential. Remote sensing and the geographical information system (GIS) are used to integrate five contributing factors: lithology, land cover/land use, lineaments, drainage, and slope. The weights of factors contributing to the groundwater recharge are derived using aerial photos, geology maps, a land use database, and field verification. The resultant map of the groundwater potential zone demonstrates that the highest recharge potential area is located towards the downstream regions in the basin because of the high infiltration rates caused by gravelly sand and agricultural land use in these regions. In contrast, the least effective recharge potential area is in upstream regions due to the low infiltration of limestone.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China, Taiwan, for financially supporting this research under Contract No. MOEAWRA0950416.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

    Hsin-Fu Yeh, Cheng-Haw Lee, Kuo-Chin Hsu & Po-Hsun Chang

  2. Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

    Cheng-Haw Lee & Kuo-Chin Hsu

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  1. Hsin-Fu Yeh
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  2. Cheng-Haw Lee
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  3. Kuo-Chin Hsu
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  4. Po-Hsun Chang
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Correspondence to Cheng-Haw Lee.

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Yeh, HF., Lee, CH., Hsu, KC. et al. GIS for the assessment of the groundwater recharge potential zone. Environ Geol 58, 185–195 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1504-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1504-9

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