Modelling of Groundwater Potential Zones by using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of Multan District

Abstract

As groundwater plays a critical role in industry, residential as well as agricultural activities, its proper management is an important issue at the global level. In this paper, the Remote Sensing (RS), and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology are applied to forecasting the potential of ground water in Multan district of Pakistan. The level of water available in aquifers in various hydrological reasons is known as ground-water potential. To analyze the research area, there are eight significant factors that were considered and the research area is 3,721 square kilometers in size and is located in southern Punjab. They were drainage density, rainfall, soil texture, topographic wetness index (TWI), slope, aspect, elevation, and land cover and land use (LULC). The relative relevance of these aspects is determined by carrying out weighted overlay analysis with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model. In the findings it is noted that there are four levels to the potentiality of ground water in the area of research; Low, moderate, high, and extremely high. The outcomes indicate that heavy vegetated areas experience low steepness of run off and high infiltration rates, which enhances recharging of groundwater. Rainfall and physiographic qualities mainly characterized by altitude and slope were identified as the most critical variables. Along with the provision of insightful information to be used in future planning and sustainable water resources management in the Multan District, this research provides evidence on the usefulness of GIS and RS technologies in evaluation of groundwater.