Sustainable groundwater potential zone using remote sensing and GIS

Groundwater is hardly and almost not possible to be seen directly from the earth´s surface. Geological methods, involving interpretation of geologic data and field reconnaissance, represent an important early step in groundwater investigation. Remote sensing data from aircraft or satellite has become an increasing valuable tool for understanding subsurface water condition. They are particularly useful, very detailed and also show up features which cannot be seen easily on the ground. The various surfacial parameters prepared from remotely sensed data and ancillary data can be integrated and analyzed through GIS to predict the groundwater potential zone. In order to predict the groundwater potential zones, different thematic maps have been prepared which includes annual rainfall distribution, land use, lithology, lineament density, topography elevation, slope steepness, drainage density and soil type. Based on several studies on determining the suitable method to classify the groundwater zone, integrated assessment of thematic maps using a model developed based on GIS techniques is the most suitable method for groundwater potential zones prediction.