Exploration of groundwater potential zones using analytical hierarchical process (AHP) approach in the Godavari river basin of Maharashtra in India

Total natural and groundwater resources play the most crucial role in developing ecological, biological and socioeconomic doings. Various parameters like land use, geology, elevation, slope, lineament, lineament density, drainage density and geomorphology affect the groundwater development of recharge and its accessibility. In this research, geographical information system (GIS), remote sensing, weighted overlay analysis and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods have been used for groundwater prospects mapping, and identifying suitable solutions site for soil and water conservation structures. To calculate the weights were assigned to every layers component in the determination of affecting factors. The weighted overlay analysis (WOA) tool is applied to give the sub-parameter ratings based on the scientific literature. The final map of potential groundwater zone map has prepared using Arc GIS 10.1 software and AHP methods. About 49.71% of the areas fall under the 'good potential zone, 41.05% falls under the 'moderate potential zone', and 9.22% falls under the 'poor zone by using AHP technique. Groundwater potential zone map is depend on the weighted overlay analysis and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods. The highest GWP is located in the lower part of the basin due to the best surface runoff gathering, infiltration situations and subsurface storage volume. The present study procedure, methods and outcomes can be valuable to estimate the suitable groundwater zones parallel to improve the dry land area in the semi-arid and arid regions of India.

Mapping Potential Zones for Groundwater Recharge Using a GIS Technique in the Lower Khwae Hanuman Sub-Basin Area, Prachin Buri Province, Thailand

The lower Khwae Hanuman sub-basin in Thailand suffers from water shortage during each dry season. As such, groundwater resources are an additional freshwater source in this region, in particular for cultivating activities. Thus, an understanding of the volume of groundwater recharge into the saturated zone is required. The objective of the study is to assess the groundwater recharge potential (GRP) using the weighted overlay analysis method by geographic information system (GIS) and finally checking the reliability of GRP map using observed specific capacity carried out by the Department of Groundwater Resources (DGR). The geological and hydrogeological features that affect groundwater potential are the lithology, land use, lineaments, drainage, slope, and soil. The weighting and rating of these six influencing factors were determined by assessing the interrelationship of the main and minor influences of each factor based on several literature reviews, followed by a weighted overlay analysis with GIS, in association with groundwater recharge. The GRP can be classified in descending order: high, moderate, low, and very low, where about 33.9 km2 (2.26% of the total area of 1,500 km2) had high recharge potentiality, located at the center of the area. Only 12.8% of the total precipitation (271.75 million m3/y or approximately 181.2 mm) infiltrated the groundwater aquifer, while the rest was lost by either surface runoff or evapotranspiration. Based on GRP sensitivity analysis index, lithology was the most efficient influencing factor in GRP mapping. Most groundwater wells (>96% or 369 wells) were classified into the classes of low and moderated, which agree to the GRP zones. The results of calculating the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were 86.0 percent, with relatively good predictive accuracy. The stable baseflow analysis would be used to confirm the amount of GRP by weighting overlay technique. Therefore, the GRP method can be applied in other areas, particular in similar hydrogeological characteristics. The first-hand recharge potential map and groundwater recharge information in this area can be used to establish an effective groundwater exploration program for agricultural activities; it is also used to appropriate sustainable yields from each groundwater basin to provide groundwater over the long-term, without negatively impacting the environment and without affecting the groundwater balance as it has recharge in the rainy seasons, which can use groundwater sustainably. It is in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in goal number six of the UN.

Modelling urban mixed land-use prediction using influence parameters

Mixed land-use is a popular concept in urban planning due to its expected role in improving environmental sustainability as well as citizen’s quality of life. Land use planning and regulations are not stringent in many cities like those in India, and policies are liberal towards mixed land uses. In these cities, mixed land-uses are a natural phenomenon manifesting under various influencing parameters. However, for studies on mixed land-uses, these cities pose data insufficiency challenges, as vital comprehensive spatial information related to land-uses is not available. Moreover, there is no standardised methodology established to assess the spatial distribution of mixed land-uses at the city level. This research has developed a GIS-based model using Weighted Overlay Analysis to predict and visualise the probability of mixed land-use at the macro or city level for the case of Pune, India. The model uses the easily available spatial data of influencing parameters of mixed land-use as input for prediction instead of comprehensive real land-use data. The model is validated by comparing the predicted mixed land-use intensities with established indicators of mixed land-use for four neighbourhoods. It is found that parameters that influence mixed land-use such as connectivity, grain pattern, population density and access to amenities can be used to predict the probability of mixed land-use. Around 35 per cent of the city area of Pune has more than 0.67 probability of mixed land-use. The model can produce the probable mixed land-use distribution across the city and can be used to compute mixed land-use intensities for neighbourhoods. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • Mixed land-use probability distribution for Pune City, India is generated using Weighted Overlay Analysis in GIS. • As vital spatial data of land-use was unavailable, the prediction model uses data of influencing parameters of mixed land-uses such as population density, connectivity, grain pattern and access to amenities. • The mixed land-use probabilities predicted can be used to compute mixed land-use intensities of neighbourhoods. It is validated by comparing with traditional mixed land-use indicators.

Site suitability analysis for decentralized sustainable solid waste management system for Coimbatore city using GIS.

The effective solid waste management in a developing country like India has become an essential concern of the society. Municipality and corporation have framed many policies and municipal solid waste rules for a sustainable solid waste management, but the increase in population and urbanization leads to many challenges in implementing an effective system. Disposal of waste is an important action in solid waste management but due to many flaws in system the centralized disposal of waste is not effective. In this research the site selection for decentralized processing unit zone wise is done using GIS and weighted overlay analysis. The weighted overlay analysis is done by using thematic layers like land use land cover, geomorphology, geology, soil, lineaments, ground water depth, distance from water bodies, distance from railway track, drainage density, road density ,distance from roads are used as inventory maps to arrive the suitable area to carry out decentralized solid waste management. The results revealed the suitable area in sqkm under five classifications as highly suitable, high to moderately suitable, moderately suitable, poorly suitable and not suitable. Keywords: site suitability, south zone, Coimbatore decentralized waste management, weighted overlay analysis.

Determination of suitable land for special cimate requirements of agricultural products in Mediterranean Region (Turkey) by weighted overlay analysis Akdeniz Bölgesi'nde (Türkiye) yetiştirilen tarım ürünlerinin özel iklim isteklerine uygun arazilerin ağırlıklı çakıştırma analizi ile belirlenmesi

In this study, the areas where wheat, corn, cotton, grape and olive plants of high economic value in the Mediterranean Region can be grown in accordance with the special climate requirements have been determined with Weighted Overlay Analysis in Geographical Information Systems. Burdur, Isparta, Kahramanmaras, Antalya, Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Iskenderun were selected for this purpose as the automatic meteorological observation stations having long observation period and homogeneous distribution. Including the years between 1991-2017, the daily average temperature, daily average maximum temperature, daily average minimum temperature and daily total rainfall data were used as climate data along the elevation and slope data generated from the digital elevation model (DEM) as topography data. Phenological periods of agricultural products from Turkey Phenology Atlas and special climate requirements in these periods according to literature review were determined as first step of the methodology. Then, climate data were arranged according to phenological periods and transferred to ArcGIS 10.1 program. Climate data were interpolated by IDW method in order to create a continuous surface from climate data. The weighted overlay tool included in the ArcGIS 10.1 program was applied to the topography data and interpolated climate data. The areas compatible with temperature and precipitation conditions which are special climate requirements of the agricultural products and the areas where the elevation is below 1000 meters and the slope is below %20 are classified as suitable; and the areas that do not meet these criteria are classified as unsuitable. Then the distribution maps are constructed. It is determined that the areas classified as suitable for agricultural production by the study overlap with the areas currently having the greatest amount of agriculture production. According to the results obtained from the analysis; the effect of elevation, hill and climate factors in determining the areas where agricultural products can be cultivated economically is clearly determined.Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu çalışmada Akdeniz Bölgesi'nde ekonomik değeri yüksek olan buğday, mısır, pamuk, üzüm ve zeytinin özel iklim isteklerine uygun olarak yetiştirilebileceği alanlar Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri’nde Ağırlıklı Çakıştırma Analizi (Weighted Overlay Analysis) ile tespit edilmiştir. Bu amaçla çalışma alanındaki gözlem süresi uzun olan ve homojen dağılım gösteren otomatik meteoroloji gözlem istasyonlarından Burdur, Isparta, Kahramanmaraş, Antalya, Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye ve İskenderun seçilmiştir. Bu istasyonlara ait 1991-2017 yılları arasını kapsayan, günlük ortalama sıcaklık, günlük ortalama maksimum sıcaklık, günlük ortalama minimum sıcaklık, günlük en yüksek maksimum ve en düşük minimum sıcaklık ve günlük toplam yağış verileri ile sayısal yükseklik modelinden (dem) oluşturulan yükselti ve eğim verileri, topoğrafya verisi olarak kullanılmıştır. Metot olarak, öncelikle tarım ürünlerinin Türkiye Fenoloji Atlası’ndan fenolojik dönemleri ve literatürden bu dönemlerdeki özel iklim istekleri belirlenmiştir. Fenolojik dönemlere göre düzenlenen iklim verileri ArcGIS 10.1 programına aktarılmıştır. İklim verilerinden sürekli yüzey oluşturabilmesi için sıcaklık ve yağış değerleri IDW yöntemiyle interpole edilmiştir. Topoğrafya verileri ve interpole edilmiş iklim verilerine ArcGIS 10.1 programında weighted overlay aracıyla ağırlıklı çakıştırma analizi uygulanmıştır. Tarım ürünlerinin özel iklim isteklerinden sıcaklık ve yağış koşullarına uyumlu, yükseltinin 1000 metre ve eğimin %20’nin altında olduğu alanlar uygun, bu kriterleri sağlamayan alanlar uygun değil olarak sınıflandırılmış ve dağılış haritaları yapılmıştır. Tarımsal üretim için uygun olan alanların tarımsal üretim tutarlarının da yüksek olduğu alanlara karşılık geldiği gözlemlenmiştir. Analizden elde edilen sonuçlara göre; bölgedeki yükselti ve eğim faktörleri ile iklim koşullarının tarım ürünlerinin ekonomik olarak yetiştirilebileceği alanları belirlemedeki etkisi açık bir şekilde tespit edilmiştir.