Groundwater Monitoring Network Design Using GIS and Multicriteria Analysis

Juan Esquivel, Guillermo Morales and María Esteller ()

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2015, vol. 29, issue 9, 3175-3194

Abstract: The objective of this investigation was to use multicriteria analysis to analyze and model the main criteria that influence the optimal design of a network to monitor groundwater levels. The multicriteria analysis was performed using a GIS (IDRISI Selva). The Toluca Valley aquifer (Mexico) was chosen as the case study. The definition and importance of the criteria (factors and constraints) that influence the design of the monitoring network were based on available information and consultations with experts in the topic. The factors considered were: rate of decline in groundwater levels, decline in groundwater levels, rise in groundwater levels, cracks, vertical hydraulic gradient, and density of wells. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to weight the factors, resulting in a consistency ratio of 0.08. The weighted linear combination (WLC) method was then applied which resulted in a map identifying the locations of the priority areas to be monitored. The results show that 1.0 % of the study region corresponds to very high priority monitoring areas, 1.8 % to high priority areas, another 1.8 % to medium priority, 4.4 % to low priority and 91 % to very low priority monitoring areas. The proposed method can be used by government and public and private organizations to determine monitoring strategies that support water resources management. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Keywords: GIS; Analytical hierarchy process; Groundwater monitoring network (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1007/s11269-015-0989-8

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