Evaluation of Groundwater Resource Potential using GIS and Remote Sensing Application

Environment and Development are the two wheels of the cart. However, they become antagonists at some\ud points. It has been witnessed many a times that development is done at the cost of environment. Analysis and\ud assessment tools like GIS along with Remote Sensing have proved to be very efficient and effective and hence\ud useful for management of natural resources. Groundwater is a precious resource of limited extent. In order to\ud ensure a judicious use of groundwater, proper evaluation is required. There is an urgent need of planned and\ud optimal development of water resources. An appropriate strategy is required to develop water resources with\ud planning based on conjunctive use of surface and subsurface water resources. Integrated remote sensing and GIS\ud can provide the appropriate platform for convergent analysis of diverse data sets for decision making in\ud groundwater management and planning. Sustainable water resources development and management necessarily\ud depends on proper planning, implementation, operation and maintenance. The interpretation of remote sensing\ud data in conjunction with conventional data and sufficient ground truth information makes it possible to identify\ud and outline various ground features such as geological structures, geomorphic features and their hydrologic\ud characters that may serve as direct or indirect indicators of the presence of ground and surface water. Remotely\ud sensed data provides unbiased information on geology, geomorphology, structural pattern and recharging\ud conditions, which logically define the groundwater regime of an area. Groundwater resource potential has been\ud evaluated in Pulivendula-Sanivaripalli, Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, India, using remote sensing and\ud Geographic information system. Under this study, three thematic maps viz. Geological map (Lithology and\ud Structure), Geomorphological map and Hydro morphological maps were prepared. These thematic maps have\ud been integrated with the help of GIS. Appropriate weightage has been assigned to various factors controlling\ud occurrence of groundwater to assess the groundwater potential in each segment of the study area. The area has\ud been classified into high potential, moderate potential, low potential and non-potential zones landforms ground\ud water development on the basis of hydromorphological studies. Some of the favorable locations have been\ud suggested to impound the excessive run off so as to augment the ground water resources of the area