Identification of Ground Water Potential Zone in Kasaragod District, Kerala Using GIS

Groundwater is a valuable natural resource that supports human health, economic development and ecological diversity. Climatic change, increasing population, urbanization and industrialization affect the quality and quantity of the groundwater resources. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and study the groundwater potential zone, which can be used to replenish groundwater. The research is being conducted in the Kasaragod district of Kerala, using Geomorphology, Geology, Drainage Density, and Topographic Wetness index (TWI), Lineament Density, Slope, LULC, Soil and Rainfall. The groundwater potential zones are determined by weighted overlay analysis using these data sets, which are created as various layers in the GIS background. The current study region is categorized into five zones based on this weightage summation: Very Low, Low, Medium, High, and Very High.The multi-criteria decision-making technique and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to create the weights for the various levels. About, 13.05% of the area have high groundwater potential found in the western part of the study area while 62.54% of the area have low and very low groundwater potential zone mainly found in the south-eastern half of the district. Similar studies are helpful for the planning community to develop and manage ground water resources for the potential use.