Groundwater potential zones identification and validation in Peninsular India

Abstract

Groundwater mapping is essential for meeting the water requirement of people. Identification of groundwater potential zone was attempted for a watershed located in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. The Landsat 8 and Landsat 5 data were used for land use/land cover analysis. For delineating groundwater potential zone, total seven thematic layers namely drainage density, slope, geology, soil, geomorphology, rainfall, land use/land cover and observed groundwater levels were considered during the analysis. Afterwards thematic layers were converted into raster using GIS platform. Further, after assigning weights and ratings to each thematic layer, overlay analysis was applied and total five zones were delineated as very good, good, moderate, poor, and very poor. The majority of area has moderate groundwater potential zone. The potential zone map was also validated using ROC method. The map of 2005 shows a highest accuracy compared to rest year maps.