identification of groundwater recharge potential …...identification of groundwater recharge...

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATICS AND GEOSCIENCES

Volume 4, No 3, 2014

© Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4380

Submitted on January 2014 published on February 2014 485

Identification of groundwater recharge potential zones for a watershed

using remote sensing and GIS Shivaji Govind Patil1, Nitin Mahadeo Mohite2

1- Post Graduate, Civil Engineering Department, Government College of Engineering, Pune

(COEP), Shivajinagar, Pune-411005

2- Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Government College of Engineering,

Pune (COEP), Shivajinagar, Pune-411005

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Groundwater is considered as the preferred source of water for meeting domestic, industrial

and agricultural requirements, due to its longer residence time in the ground, low level of

contamination, wide distribution, and availability within the reach of the end user. Even the

existing wells are getting dried-up due to depletion of ground water table as the natural

recharge is not sufficient. Groundwater recharge is a basic pre-requisite for efficient

groundwater resource development and management, which is particularly vital for India

with widely prevalent semi-arid and arid climate. In case the natural recharge is not sufficient,

it has to be met through artificial recharge. To provide scientifically, appropriate locations for

constructing artificial recharge structures, each hydro-geomorphic unit will be evaluated for

its recharge potential and suitably a map showing such groundwater recharge potential zones

for appropriate recharge will be prepared. Using remote sensing and geographic information

system (GIS) it is possible to take number of different thematic maps of the same area and

overlay them on top of one another to form a new integrated layer. This study was aimed to

identify the groundwater recharge potential zones, to be used for better and improved

groundwater resources. The thematic layers considered in this study are geomorphology, soil,

land use land cover, slope (%), drainage density and lineament density, which are prepared

using satellite imagery and other conventional data. The thematic layers were first digitized

from satellite imagery, supported by ancillary data such as toposheets and field investigation

data, finally all thematic layers were integrated using ArcGIS software to identify the

groundwater recharge potential zones for the study area and generate a map showing these

groundwater recharge potential zones namely ‘poorly suitable’, ‘moderately suitable’ and

‘most suitable’ on knowledge based weightage factors.

Keywords: Remote Sensing, GIS, groundwater, recharge, overlay analysis.

1. Introduction

Groundwater recharge refers to the entry of water from the unsaturated zone below the water

table surface, together with the associated flow from the water table within the saturated zone.

Groundwater recharge occurs when water flows past the groundwater level and infiltrates into

the saturated zone. Field investigations help to explain the process of groundwater recharge

and evaluate the spatial-temporal difference in the study area. However, these field

investigations often focus on a single affecting factor or an indirect site-specific detail for

groundwater recharge, reducing the reliability of the investigations. In recent times remote

sensing and geographic information system technique is proved to be a cost effective and

Identification of groundwater recharge potential zones for a watershed using remote sensing and GIS

Shivaji Govind Patil, Nitin Mahadeo Mohite

International Journal of Geomatics and Geosciences

Volume 4 Issue 3, 2014 486

time saving tool to produce valuable data on geomorphology, geology, land use land cover,

slope, lineament density, drainage density, etc. which helps to decipher groundwater recharge

potential zones. In recent times, many researchers such as Chaudhary et al. (1996), Rajat C.

Mishra et al. (2010), Dr. Jyoti Sarup et al. (2011) have used the approach of remote sensing

and GIS for identification of groundwater potential zones and exploration of groundwater

with locating the artificial recharge sites. Akram Javed et al. (2009), Narendra et al. (2013)

have used remote sensing and GIS techniques for delineation of groundwater potential zones.

Jothiprakash V. et al. (2003), Balachandar D. et al. (2010), Binay Kumar et al. (2011), Nepal

C. Mondal et al. (2011) have used the remote sensing and GIS technique for generation of

groundwater recharge zones map for the improvement and development of groundwater for

the region. Subagunasekar M. et al. (2012) have applied GIS for assessment of the

groundwater recharge potential zones. J. Brema et al. (2012) have used GIS for identification

of sites suitable for artificial recharging and groundwater flow modelling.

Integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS can provide the appropriate platform for

convergent analysis of divergent datasets for decision making in not only mapping and

planning of groundwater resources but also management of groundwater resources for its

efficient and cost effective use for a region or state. This study is aimed to develop and apply

integrated method for combining the information obtained by analysing multi-source

remotely sensed data in a GIS environment for better understanding the groundwater resource

for a watershed in Pune district, Maharashtra, India.

2. Study Area

The study area is a watershed, admeasuring 220 km2, in the Pune district of Maharashtra,

India, which lies in Survey of India toposheet bearing nos. 47 F/14, 47 F/15, 47 J/ 2 and 47

J/3 falling between the latitude 18o15’0’’ to 18o45’0’’ N and longitude 73o31’0’’ to 73o40’0’’

E. The location map of study area, with other details, is as per figure1 below.

Figure 1: Map showing location of study area with details





2.1 Data used

1) Survey of India (SOI) toposheet no. 47 F/14, 47 F/15, 47 J/ 2 and 47 J/3 on scale

1:50000

2) IRS P6 LISS-III satellite data at the scale 1:50000

3) ASTER GDEM 30 m (USGS/NASA ASTER DEM data available from http://

www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp)

4) Dug wells data by field investigations.

3. Methodology

First SOI toposheets are geocoded with the help of known ground control points (GCPs) on it.

These geocoded toposheets are then mosaiced to create the boundary map of study area with

relevant details, in the form of shape file using ArcGIS software. Clipping operation is

carried out for obtaining required details for study area from the mosaiced toposheets. Using

map to image registration technique provided by the Geomatica software, the IRS P6 LISS-

III satellite image is geometrically rectified and registered with SOI toposheets on 1:50000

scale. The false colour composite (FCC) generated from red, green and blue spectral bands (1,

2 and 3). To enhance the satellite imagery linear, equalization and root enhancement

techniques have been used for better interpretation of the geomorphological, soil, structural

and other information for preparation of thematic maps from it. For digitization, editing, and

topology creation of various features ArcGIS software has been used. The most important

work of assignment of rank and weightage to different features / themes and classes within

theme was carried out and then integration of multi-thematic information is done to identify

groundwater potential zones and to generate map for the same. The groundwater recharge

potential zones map, thus generated through remote sensing and GIS technique, with three

zones viz. ‘Poorly suitable’, ‘moderately suitable’ and ‘most suitable’ has been verified with

field data to ascertain the validity of the study conducted.

3.1 Spatial Database Building

ArcGIS software is used to generate datasets of features, attribute tables, topology /

geometric network and other data items in database, which provides various tools. Different

thematic maps are created using procedure as below.

1. Digitization of scanned toposheets / maps and editing for elimination of errors

2. Providing map projection system to spatial dataset

3. Extraction of various feature classes for all the layers

4. Assignment of attributes for each layer

3.2 Data integration through GIS

Various favourable groundwater thematic maps have been integrated into a single

groundwater prospect zone with the application of GIS techniques.

Data integration required steps as below

1. Assignment of ranks to various features in different themes of spatial data

2. Integration by overlay of various thematic maps in ArcGIS environment

3. Assignment of weightage to different themes in overlay analysis in GIS

environment

4. Generation of groundwater recharge potential zones map





3.3 Spatial Analysis

The process of study of locations of geographic phenomena together with their dimensions

and attributes, classification, polygon classification, rank and weightage assignment to

individual class and feature class respectively, is significant and important. The various

thematic maps, such as geomorphology, soil, slope and land use land cover map, Drainage

density and lineament density have been prepared and duly assigned ranks for individual

class and weightage to each theme depending upon its influence on groundwater occurrence

and movement and also more importantly infiltration and runoff. For example slope plays

prominent role in runoff process; as the slope is steeper more is the runoff. Similar is the case

of geomorphology, which causes more holding capacity for groundwater than other factors

once infiltration takes place. Further identification of groundwater recharge potential zones

has been carried out with the prior knowledge of ranks and weightages assigned to the

various features / themes as explained above. The thematic maps of (i) Slope, (ii)

Geomorphology, (iii) Land Use and Land Cover, (iv) Soil, (v) Drainage density and (vi)

Lineament density, alongwith well locations data obtained through GPS receiver spread over

the study area, have been prepared on the scale 1:50000 using remote sensing data, and field

investigations data, using ArcGIS software. From ASTER DEM 30m, a thematic percent

slope map has been generated. SOI toposheets and IRS P6 LIS-III satellite image has been

used to prepare various thematic maps in ArcGIS environment.

Each theme provides certain clue regarding groundwater occurrence, holding and recharge in

study area, which is evident from the initial readings and study. These thematic layers, such

as geomorphology, soil, land use land cover and slope map, etc., are used for multi-criteria or

weighted overlay analysis by intersecting polygons. Using weighted overlay analysis a new

integrated map indicating groundwater recharge potential zones is generated, which is

integration of various feature classes from different thematic maps and combining all these

features from various thematic maps into one map. Thus final composite map for

groundwater recharge potential zones is obtained showing class wise groundwater recharge

potential for a watershed of the study area. According to their respective influence or

prominence on groundwater recharge, various themes have been considered in assigning the

final weightages to the layers in the form of polygons, during weighted overlay analysis, to

integrate various thematic maps. Weighted overlay analysis is a GIS technique to be applied

for divergent input themes to bring them into the unique convergent output. The groundwater

recharge potential zones map (figure 9) has been generated through this weighted overlay

analysis and has been categorized into three zones viz. ‘poorly suitable’, ‘moderately

suitable’ and ‘most suitable’, from groundwater recharge potential point of view. Flowchart

showing methodology adopted for this study is represented as Figure 2.

4. Analysis and discussions

4.1 Slope

The precipitous terrain causes rapid runoff and does not store water easily. Slope of any

terrain is one of the factors allowing the infiltration of groundwater into subsurface or in

other words groundwater recharge. In the gentle slope area, the surface runoff is slow

allowing more time for rainwater to percolate, whereas, steep slope area facilitates high

runoff allowing less residence time for rainwater to percolate and hence comparatively less

infiltration. The slope map of the study area is derived from ASTER DEM 30 m and slope of

the study area is classified into five classes, which is as per figure 3 below.





Figure 2: Methodology Flowchart

Figure 3: Map showing slope (%) features

The ranks are assigned to the individual slope class, according to its respective influence of

groundwater occurrence, holding and recharge, as per table 1 below.





Table 1: Ranking for % slope

Sr.

No.

Slope

(%) Description

Ranking (In

word)

Ranking (In

number)

1 < 1 Nearly

levelled Good 1

2 1 to 3 Gently sloping Good 1

3 3 to 5 Moderate

sloping Moderate 2

4 5 to 25 Strongly

sloping Poor 3

5 25 to 80 Steep sloping Poor 3

4.2 Geomorphology

The identification and characterisation of various landforms and structural features in the

study area was very important from geomorphological study point of view. Many of these

features are favourable for occurrence and recharge of groundwater and are classified in

terms of groundwater recharge potentiality. Geomorphologic units are delineated based on the

image characteristics such as tone, texture, shape, colour and associations. By overlapping the

base map over the geocoded FCC image, the geomorphologic units and landforms, the

structural information and structural trend lines are incorporated. Structural hills are observed

on southern east part of the study area, which are the linear or acute hills exhibiting definite

trend lines and mostly act as runoff zones due to its sloping topography. This shows poor

potentiality for groundwater occurrence and recharge. Butte is a small portion of land which

has moderate high elevation compared to local surrounding land and having considerable

slope due to which this also acts as runoff zone. This shows poor potential for ground water

occurrence and recharge. Valleys are low lying depressions formed longitudinally along the

streams or amongst the ridge portions, which shows excellent potential for groundwater

occurrence and recharge. Burried pediplain are flat and smooth surface with shallow

overburden and are usually crisscrossed by fractures / lineaments, faults, etc. and are

considered to be good for groundwater occurrence and recharge. Pediplain is a broad gently

sloping or nearly flat erosion surface or plain of low relief, typically developed by running

water; it is considered as moderate for groundwater occurrence and recharge. By extraction of

various classes of geomorphology, a thematic map for geomorphology is generated as per

figure 4 below. The ranks were assigned to the individual landform, according to its

respective influence of groundwater occurrence, holding and recharge, as per table 2 below.

Table 2: Ranking for geomorphological units

Sr. No. Geomorphologic Unit Ranking (In word) Ranking (In number)

1 Valley Good 1

2 Burried Pediplain Good 1

3 Pediplain Moderate 2

4 Butte Poor 3

5 Structural Hill Poor 3





4.3 Soil

Figure 4: Map showing geomorphologic features

The study area is prominently consisting in the basaltic region of Maharashtra and falls partly

in the rocky hills and partly in regur and alluvium soil. Alluvium soil is loose, unconsolidated

soil or sediments, which has been eroded, reshaped by water in some form. These soils are

considered as good for groundwater occurrence, holding and recharge potential. Regur soils

are black in colour and are also known as black cotton soils. They are well-known for their

ability to retain moisture. These soils have moderate effect as a controlling factor for

groundwater occurrence and recharge potential for this study area. Mountain soils are mainly

found in hill slopes. These are mostly less prone to infiltration and subsequently causing poor

in groundwater occurrence and recharge potential. By extraction of various classes of soil

types, a thematic map for soil was generated as per figure 5. The ranks were assigned to the

individual soil type, according to its respective influence of groundwater occurrence, holding

and recharge as per table 3 below.

Table 3: Ranking for soil types

Sr. No. Soil type Ranking (In word) Ranking (In number)

1 Alluvium Good 1

2 Regur Moderate 2

3 Mountain Poor 3





Figure 5: Map showing soil features

4.4 Land use land cover

Land use land cover features control the occurrence of groundwater and also causes for

infiltration for recharge, with variety of classes among itself. Remote sensing data and GIS

technique provide reliable, accurate baseline information for land use land cover mapping,

which plays vital role in determining land use pattern and changes therein on different times.

The effect of land use land cover is manifested either by reducing runoff and facilitating, or

by trapping water on their leaf. By extraction of various classes of land use land cover, a

thematic map was generated as per figure 6 below.

Table 4: Ranking for land use land cover

Sr.

No.

Land use land

cover

Ranking (In

word)

Ranking (In

number)

1 Agricultural Good 1

2 Urban Built up Poor 3

3 Scrub Land Poor 1

4 Rural Built up Moderate 2

5 Waste land Poor 3

6 Wet land Good 1

7 Waste land (rocky) Poor 3





Figure 6: Map showing land use land cover features

The ranks were assigned to the individual land use land cover type, according to its respective

influence of groundwater occurrence, holding and recharge, as per table 4 below.

4.5 Drainage density

The drainage of the study area is hilly with steep slope on southern part and on northern side

part is plaeuto with gentle slope. The drainage of the area is dominated by the deeply incised,

sand/ clay filled, seasonal streams flowing from south to north towards the Mula-Mutha river,

which is flowing on the northern periphery of the study area. By extraction of drainage

density features, a thematic map generated, classified into four zones according to their

respective drainage density, which is as per figure 7 below.

Table 5: Ranking for drainage density

Sr.

No.

Drainage density

(in Km/ sq. km.)

Description Ranking

(In word)

Ranking

(In number)

1 0 to 0.5 Low density Good 1

2 0.5 to 1.0 Moderate density Moderate 2

3 1.0 to 1.5 High density Poor 3

4 1.5 to 2.0 Very high

density

Poor 3





Figure 7: Map showing drainage density features

The ranks were assigned to the individual slope class, according to its respective influence of


4.6 Lineament density

Lineaments are linear geomorphic features that are the surface expression of zones of

weakness or structural displacement in the crust of the earth. These are defined as the

‘significant lines of landscape, which reveals the hidden architecture of the rock basement’.

They are the character lines of the earth’s physiognomy. Such features may represent deep

seated faults, fractures and joints sets, drainage lines and boundary lines of different rock

formations. All these linear features are interpreted from the satellite data and the lineament

map is prepared for the study area. Lineaments are any linear features that can be picked out

as lines in aerial or satellite imagery. From satellite imagery, lineament data is extracted and

then lineament density map is generated, which is as per figure 8 below.

Table 6: Ranking for lineament density

Sr. No. Lineament

density

Ranking (In word) Ranking (In number)

1 High Good 1

2 Moderate Moderate 2

3 Low Poor 3





Figure 8: Map showing lineament density features

The ranks were assigned to the individual slope class, according to its respective influence of


4.7 Overlay analysis

Overlay analysis is a multi-criteria analysis wherein analysis can be carried out with complex

things for finding out certain theme with the help of assignment of rank to the individual class

of feature and then assigning weightage to the individual feature considering its influence

over theme. All the thematic maps were converted into raster format and superimposed by

weighted overlay method, which consists of rank and weightage wise thematic maps and

integration of them through GIS. Integration of thematic maps for carrying out multi-criteria

or overlay analysis in GIS environment was done using ArcGIS software.

Table 7: Ranks and weightages of parameters for groundwater recharge potential zones

Sr.

No.

Groundwater recharge

potential factor

Classes Rank Weightage

(%)

(1) Slope < 1% 1 20

1 to 3 % 1

3 to 5 % 2

5 to 25 % 3

25 to 89 % 3

(2) Soil Alluvium 1 20

Regur 2

Mountain 3

(3) Geomorphology Valley 1 25

Burried pediplain 1

Pediplain 2

Butte 3





Structural hill 3

(4) Land use land cover Agricultural 1 25

Wetland 1

Rural built up 2

Scrub land 3

Waste land 3

Urban built up 3

Waste land rocky 3

(5) Drainage density 0 to 0.5 ( Low) 1 5

0.5 to 1.0 (Moderate) 2

1.0 to 1.5 (High) 3

1.5 to 2.0 (Very high) 3

(6) Lineament density Low 3 5

Moderate 2

High 1

4.8 Results

This study analyzed the hydrologic and geographic attributes of the watershed in study area

and identified six major factors influencing groundwater recharge potential, viz. slope(%),

geomorphology, soil, land use land cover, drainage density and lineament density. Each factor

was examined was assigned an appropriate weight. Each recharge potential factor may

influence the groundwater recharge process to a different degree.

Figure 9: Groundwater recharge potential zones map

Overlay analysis is carried out, using weighted overlay analysis tool provided in the ArcGIS

software, to integrate various thematic maps viz. geomorphology map, soil map, slope(%)





map, land use land cover map, drainage density map and lineament density map, which are

being very informative and plays important role in the study for groundwater recharge

potential zones of study area. The various thematic maps were assigned with different

weightages of numerical value to derive groundwater recharge potential zones. On the basis

of weightage assigned to these maps and bringing them into the function of spatial analyst for

integration of these thematic maps, a map indicating groundwater recharge potential zones is

obtained, which is as per fig. 9 below. This map has been categorized into three zones viz.

‘poorly suitable’, ‘moderately suitable’ and ‘most suitable’ from groundwater recharge

potential point of view. For more realistic evaluation, field investigations were made with

data of dug wells, which satisfy the above analysis.

5. Conclusions

This study produced a groundwater recharge potential amp for study area. The results indicate

that the most effective groundwater recharge potential zone is located on east-north part of

the study area. In this region, the alluvium soil, burried pediplain and agricultural land have

high infiltration ability. Also the concentration of drainage also indicates the ability of stream

flow to recharge the groundwater system. The southern region of study area is least effective

for groundwater recharge, mainly due to its steep sloping topography and mountain soil

spread. The occurrence and recharge of groundwater in the study area is prominently

controlled by the geomorphology, soil type, land use land cover and slope (%) as revealed

from GIS analysis. Remote sensing and GIS technique used to integrate various thematic

maps proves to be very important to map the groundwater occurrence and movement for

recharge potential mapping and management plan on a scientific basis. Overall result

demonstrates that the use of remote sensing and GIS technique provides powerful tool to

study groundwater resources and design a suitable exploration plan for recharge of

groundwater in study area. The integrated groundwater recharge potential zones map for the

study area has been categorized into three zones viz. ‘poorly suitable’, ‘moderately suitable’

and ‘most suitable’, on the basis of the ranks and weightages assigned to different features of

the thematic maps. From this study it is observed that remote sensing and GIS technique can

be used effectively to delineate groundwater recharge potential zones map, which can be used

for improvement in the groundwater recharge and holding for the study area and later on may

be for various purposes like identification of location of structures for artificial recharge,

locations of new tube wells and efficient groundwater management for betterment of the

society.

6. References

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modelling using Geomatics techniques, International Journal of Environmental

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3. Brema J. and Prince Arulraj G., 2012, Identification of sites suitable for artificial

recharging and groundwater flow modeling in Noyyal river basin, Tamilnadu, India.

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 3(8), pp 45-58.





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Tamilnadu, India, International Journal of Current Science, 1, pp 159-162.

identification of groundwater recharge potential …...identification of groundwater recharge...

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