Leveraging geospatial technology and AHP for groundwater potential zonation in parts of South and North-Central Nigeria

The world’s groundwater resources are under tremendous stress as a result of global warming, the alteration of the climate, and expanding populations. These have resulted in the phenomenon of untenable reliance on groundwater in several emerging nations. One issue is the lack of up-to-date geographic information on the quantity and placement of groundwater resources. Planning and managing groundwater supply developments are made easier with the optimization of zoning for groundwater exploitation. The groundwater potential zones (GPZs) and the geographically distributed groundwater potential in parts of south and north-central Nigeria, a typical basement complex, were identified and characterized in this study using a variety of geoenvironmental factors (including lineament density, geomorphology, slopes, drainage density, soil type, landuse/landcover, elevation, land surface temperature, and rainfall). Data from earth observations (the various geoenvironmental elements) were transformed into thematic layers using GIS programs and remote sensing methods, and these layers were then integrated to define GPZs. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used to allocate scores to various contributing elements on the basis of their relative effects on groundwater potential. The prediction performance of the model’s parameters was assessed using the multicollinearity process. The study area’s identified groundwater potential zones were divided into four separate groups: “high,” “moderate,” “low,” and “very low.” The findings show that low to very low groundwater potential occurs in 61% of the area, largely in the upland zones, while high potential zones cover 23% of the basin area. Rainfall, lineament density, and geomorphology constitute some of the various geoenvironmental elements that significantly influence the presence of groundwater in the area. The groundwater potential zonation (GWPZ) model was substantiated using borehole data obtained from the study area. This shows 90.50% substantial accord with the AHP and geospatial approaches applied in the study. Also, a linear regression study conducted to evaluate the validity of the utilized methodology showed remarkably excellent forecasting of GPZs with an R² value of 0.911 (91.1%). Thus, this study presents a reliable approach to groundwater potential zone delineation and mapping utilizing GIS and AHP methodologies that is effective and practical. This study offers a hands-on method for identifying the potential for groundwater availability, which could eventually assist with better groundwater resource planning and management.