Identification of Groundwater Potential Zones Using Proxy Data: Case study of Megech Watershed, Ethiopia

• Published in: Journal of hydrology. Regional studies Vol. 28; p. 100676
• Main Authors: Berhanu, Kibrit Gedam, Hatiye, Samuel Dagalo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: AHP; case studies; computer software; drainage; Ethiopia; geographic information systems; geomorphology; GIS and remote sensing; groundwater; Groundwater potential; information sources; inventories; lakes; land use and land cover maps; lithology; Overlay analysis; Proxy data; rain; remote sensing; soil; watersheds; zoning; Ethiopia; Overlay analysis; AHP; Proxy data; Groundwater potential; GIS and remote sensing
• ISSN: 2214-5818; 2214-5818
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100676

•Prospects of groundwater potential zones were identified for the Megech watershed.•Geology, lineament density, slope and geomorphology are the dominant and sensitive factors for groundwater zoning.•There was a good agreement observed between the qualitative result and the groundwater inventory data.•GIS overlay analysis accompanied with AHP pairwise comparison is a promising approach for groundwater potential zoning. Part of the Lake Tana sub-basin of the Blue Nile, Ethiopia This study is aimed to identify and locate the groundwater potential zones of Megech watershed using geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing. Lithology, lineament density, slope, geomorphology, soil, land use and land cover, rainfall, drainage density and elevation were used as proxy data to map the groundwater potential zones of the watershed. Weights were assigned for each thematic layer and thematic layer classes using the PriEsT Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) tool. Suitably ArcGIS overlay analysis was conducted to obtain the groundwater potential map. Geology, lineament density, slope and geomorphology were found to be the dominant and sensitive factors for groundwater zoning as portrayed in the map removal analysis. Three groundwater potential zones were identified in the study area namely low, moderate and high. These groundwater potential zones were compared with an independent set of groundwater inventory data to validate the results. The validation analysis showed 78.5 % agreement between the groundwater inventory data and the qualitative results. Use of proxy data can serve as a credible source of information for groundwater potential zoning and could greatly help in the groundwater development and management of a region.