Estimation of Groundwater Potential Zones in Southern Dry Agro-Climatic Area Using Geoinformatics and AHP Technique

The world's demand for groundwater has been severely strained by overuse of groundwater and major climatic change over time. As the global need for drinking water for human consumption, agriculture, and industrial applications grows, so does necessity to assess groundwater. Due to the quick access to data, analysis, and knowledge, they give about resource for further improvement, GIS-based studies have grown in importance in groundwater research in recent years. In order to identify the groundwater potential zone of southern dry agro-climatic area of Mysuru and Mandya District, India, the current study has been carried out. A total of 15 theme layers were established and researched to help define groundwater potential zones. Depending on respective attributes and water potential capabilities, Analytic Hierarchy Process determines weights allocated to each class in all thematic layers. Utilizing data on groundwater prospects in area (CGWB), study's output was cross-validated, and total accuracy of methodology was 80.4%. The resulting groundwater potential zone was divided into three classifications: high, moderate, and low. According to the research, a moderate groundwater potential zone encompasses 65.8% of study area. There are zones with low and high groundwater potential in 6.75% and 27.43% of the area, respectively. The R2 value of 0.8 further demonstrates that estimated groundwater potential index and groundwater level values in recommended AHP model are quite reliable in predicting the outcome. The demarcation of groundwater potential zones has been highlighted as a critical step towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6 and 13), contributing to the implementation of sustainable water and land management.