Publication

Abstract : Groundwater plays a crucial role in developing agriculture, society, and the economy. Its demand is increasing due to marked changes in the climate and over-exploitation of water resources. In this context, the present study is undertaken to delineate groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) over Kerala, India, for January, April, August, and November. In this study, a hybrid model is constructed that integrates variable pre-processing, generating normalized weights, and prospective zone delineation by coupling Geographic Information System (GIS), Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), and Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF). The demarcation of GWPZ was based on eleven layers of surface characteristics (slope, hillshade, aspect, topographic wetness index, topographic position index, drainage density, lineament density, sand content, silt content, clay content, and roughness) and four layers indicating climate change (normalized difference vegetation index, soil moisture, rainfall, and temperature). The GWPZ was classified into five classes: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. According to the findings, vulnerable zones which comprise very low and low potential zones encompass roughly 13% of Kerala state. A large random sample validation technique using measured groundwater level dataset was used to evaluate the findings and was shown to be more than 82% accurate. These percentages were compared to the validations using a fundamental ranking approach that determines the groundwater potential index and were obtained to be less than 60%. The results of the hybrid-coupled model will be helpful for agriculturists, geologists, and hydrologists in their planning.