Site selection for artificial groundwater recharge using GIS and Fuzzy logic

Groundwater is the single water resource in many regions of Iran. In arid and semi-arid regions, special attention has been paid to artificial groundwater recharge in water resource management. Selecting appropriate sites for groundwater recharge is one of the most important factors in this groundwork. To demonstrate the capabilities of Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques and numerical modelling for groundwater resources development in arid areas, specifically to determine the suitable sites for the artificial recharge of groundwater aquifers, a study was carried out in the Batvand Plain which is located in Khuzestan province. In this study, effectual factors that could determine suitable areas for groundwater recharge are: slope, unsaturated zone, electrical conductivity, depth to groundwater, hydraulic conductivity, and drainage density. After making thematic layers, the standardization was done by fuzzy functions: Fuzzy Large, Fuzzy Small, and Fuzzy Linear in ArcGIS environment. Later on, Fuzzy-AHP method used weighting the thematic layers. By completing the matrix and paired comparison with Fuzzy Extent Analysis, the weight of each criterion was determined. Finally, the weighted layers in GIS environment were combined by Fuzzy function SUM to locate suitable areas for artificial recharge.