Application of analytical hierarchy process and GIS techniques to delineate the groundwater potential zones in and around Jorhat and Majuli areas of eastern Assam, India

Abstract

Groundwater is regarded as prominently reliable natural resources available as fresh water. However, as the world advances at a tremendous rate, this hidden water resource is exposing continuous threats owing to numerous factors, such as improper uses, over-exploitation and quality contamination. The present study emphasizes on such challenges, especially on groundwater exploration in northeast region, India with the application of remote-sensing and GIS methods. Groundwater acts as a primary source of water supply for household and agricultural purposes in the study area. Parameters, such as rainfall, geomorphology, drainage density, lithology, LU/LC, soil, lineament density, slope and well yield data, were selected to prepare thematic maps. The thematic maps were created in remote sensing and GIS platforms and specific ranks and weights were assigned to each. A pair-wise examination of all the factors affecting the groundwater potential zone (GPZ) was used to derive the weights using an analytical hierarchy process and a multi-criteria decision-making approach to generate GPZ. Five potential zones have been classified as poor, fair, moderate, good and excellent. Based on the data obtained, the poor potential zone comprises 0.083% (2.11 km2), the fair groundwater zone consists of 7.21% (183 km2), the moderate zone contributes 27.4% (694.8 km2), the good zone shows 43.6% (1105.9 km2) and the excellent zone represents 21.7% (549.8 km2), respectively. Thus, such approach is proved to be effective, convenient and reliable as compared to other expensive and time-consuming techniques for groundwater mapping especially in a remotely located terrain. � 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.