Sustainability of Groundwater Potential Zones in Coastal Areas of Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, South India Using Integrated Approach of Remote Sensing, GIS and AHP Techniques

Mahenthiran Sathiyamoorthy (), Uma Shankar Masilamani, Aaron Anil Chadee (), Sreelakhmi Devi Golla, Mohammed Aldagheiri, Parveen Sihag, Upaka Rathnayake, Jyotendra Patidar, Shivansh Shukla, Aryan Kumar Singh, Bimlesh Kumar and Hector Martin
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Mahenthiran Sathiyamoorthy: School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Uma Shankar Masilamani: School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Aaron Anil Chadee: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of West Indies, St. Augustine 331310, Trinidad and Tobago
Sreelakhmi Devi Golla: Department of Civil Engineering, Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad 501301, Telangana, India
Mohammed Aldagheiri: Geography Department, Qassim University, Qassim 52571, Saudi Arabia
Parveen Sihag: Department of Civil Engineering, Chandigarh University, Mohali 140413, Punjab, India
Upaka Rathnayake: Department of Civil Engineering and Construction, Faculty of Engineering and Design, Atlantic Technological University, F91 YW50 Sligo, Ireland
Jyotendra Patidar: School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Shivansh Shukla: School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Aryan Kumar Singh: School of Civil Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
Bimlesh Kumar: Department of Civil engineering, IIT, Guwahathi 600036, Assam, India
Hector Martin: Civil Engineering Department, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: This paper aims to identify the groundwater-potential zones in coastal zones of the Cuddalore district by integrating remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS), and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques. The thematic layers such as geomorphology, landuse/land cover, lineament density, geology, soil, drainage density, rainfall, and slope are considered for the identification of groundwater-potential zones. The groundwater-potential zones are categorized into five zones as ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘moderate’, ‘poor’, and ‘very poor’. From the study, it is observed that the rainwater/surface water infiltration to the aquifer is high in the eastern region due to flat topography, and thus, these zones possess ‘very good’ and ‘good’ groundwater-potential zones. The groundwater potential in the central region of the study area possesses moderate infiltration capacity, which is suitable for agricultural practices. Moreover, it is also observed that the groundwater potential is ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ in the northwest region due to steep slopes in which suitable recharge structures should be constructed in these zones to harvest the rainwater. Eventually, the obtained results are validated with existing bore wells in the study area, and it reveals that a GIS-based integrated method is an effective tool for the exploration of groundwater resources with high accuracy.

Keywords: remote sensing; GIS; analytical hierarchy process; groundwater-potential zones (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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