Groundwater Potential Mapping of the Major Aquifer in Northeastern Missan Governorate, South of Iraq by Using Analytical Hierarchy Process and GIS

As a result of the increasing demand for water in recent years, particularly after the emergence of drought conditions in Iraq, water policies in neighboring countries and the need to expand the uses of water for the purpose of food security, there is a truly urgent need for reassessment of groundwater resources in the light of modern efficient techniques for better managing and protecting of the aquifer system. In this study an attempt was made to delineate groundwater availability zones for the major aquifer in northeast Missan governorate, south of Iraq using GIS and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) decision making technique. Because of the data lacking, a total set of four criteria/features believed to be influencing groundwater productivity in the area were selected and mapped to demarcate groundwater potential classes after assign appropriate weights using AHP. All thematic layers were integrated and analyzed in ArcGIS 9.3 software. The final groundwater potential map was produced by linear weighted combination technique. The delineated groundwater potential map was finally verified using the available abstraction rates of existing wells. The prediction accuracy of the developed model was 72%. The groundwater potential map of the study area reveals three distinct zones: high, moderate, and low groundwater availability. The areas covered by these zones were 1138, 554, and 157 km2 for low, moderate, and high zones, respectively. The results demonstrate that the groundwater resources in the study area require careful management and pumping extraction plans. The generated model will help as a guideline for designing a suitable groundwater exploration plan in the future and thereby help efficient planning of scare groundwater in the study area. Keywords: Groundwater, GIS, AHP, Missan governorate, Ira