Abstrait

Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS Approach for Groundwater Exploration using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Technique.

Dr. N. Sajikumar, Gigo Pulikkottil

Since last decade, the value per barrel of potable ground water has outpaced the value of a barrel of oil in many areas of the world. Hence proper assessment of groundwater potential and management practices are the needs of the day. Establishing relationship between Remote Sensing data and hydrologic phenomenon can maximize the efficiency of water resources development projects. Present study focuses on ground water potential assessment in Kandanassery Panchayath of Thrissur District and its field verification. For the same, all thematic layers important from ground water occurrence and movement point of view were digitized and integrated in the GIS environment using Weighted Index Overlay Analysis (WIOA) method. The weights of different parameters/ themes were computed using Analytic Hierarchy process (AHP) Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique. Through this integrated GIS analysis, ground water prospects map of the study area was prepared qualitatively. Field verification at observation wells was used to verify identified potential zones and depth of water measured at observation wells. Generated map from weighted overlay using AHP performed very well in predicting the groundwater surface and hence this methodology proves to be a promising tool for future