Analysis of Groundwater Potential Recharge Zones Using AHP, RS and GIS Techniques in Bishwamvarpur Upazilla, Sunamganj

Abstract

This study presents the delineation of groundwater potential recharge zones in Bishwambharpur Upazilla in Sunamganj using integrated or combined geographic information system, remote sensing, and analytic hierarchy process techniques.  Remote sensing and traditional data were collected from different sources and analyzed in GIS software to prepare thematic maps of different geospatial factors such as geology, geomorphology, slope, soil, land-use land-cover, drainage density, lineaments density and rainfall, as these factors having an impact on groundwater availability of an area, directly or indirectly. Integration of GIS and RS with AHP can embody as a process that transforms and balance geospatial data and weightage ranking to retrieve information for accurate decision-making. Weighted overlay analysis is applied to integrate all geospatial factors to generate groundwater potential recharge zone map of the study area. The result reveals that three groundwater potential recharge zones, namely 'good', 'moderate' and 'poor' and occupies 26.42 km² (10.7%), 195.92 km² (79.6%) and, 23.66 km² (9.6%) respectively. A significant change in the using of groundwater pattern, especially with continuously increasing demand for groundwater owing to growing population, expansion of area under irrigation, economic progress and climate change. The findings of the study have important allegations for designing sustainable groundwater plan in the study area.