Identification of groundwater recharge
potential zones using AHP and Fuzzy
Logic: A blockwise study of western
Purulia district, India
Sauvik Santra and Sujata Biswas
Abstract Managing groundwater resources, particularly under data-scarce and dry
regions, involves a lot of difficulties and problems which have driven the planners to
apply remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) based procedures. In the present study, groundwater recharge potential zones are delineated by
integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), GIS, and RS methods in five
blocks of Purulia district, India. At first, the adequate thematic layers of factors
impacting the groundwater recharge potential, such as drainage density, geomorphology, soil types, land use, geology, rainfall, slope, and lineament density, are
extracted from sources like satellite imagery and collateral data. The AHP method
is utilized to estimate the weights of different layers for applying the hierarchical
fuzzy logic to identify potential zones for groundwater recharge. It is found that
about 186.35 km
2 area has very good groundwater recharge potential (GRP), which
is only 12.13% of the total study area. The area with good, average, and low GRP
are about 359.08, 455.29, and 415.44 km
2 respectively. Analyzing the blockwise
distribution of potential zones, it is found that Baghmundi block having 21.9% and
27.76% of its area under very good and good GRP zones respectively, is most suitable
for blockwise implementation of groundwater recharge sites.
Keywords Groundwater · Fuzzy logic · AHP · India
1 Introduction
Water is one of the most vital resources for the existence of life on earth. From
ancient times, groundwater is preferred over surface water as it is free from most
of the pollutants, and its availability is more homogeneous than surface water. A
S. Santra
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
S. Biswas (B)
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology,
Shibpur, Howrah, India
e-mail: sujata@civil.iiests.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
C. Bhuiyan et al. (eds.), Water Security and Sustainability,
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 115,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9805-0_12
131
potential zones using AHP and Fuzzy
Logic: A blockwise study of western
Purulia district, India
Sauvik Santra and Sujata Biswas
Abstract Managing groundwater resources, particularly under data-scarce and dry
regions, involves a lot of difficulties and problems which have driven the planners to
apply remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) based procedures. In the present study, groundwater recharge potential zones are delineated by
integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), GIS, and RS methods in five
blocks of Purulia district, India. At first, the adequate thematic layers of factors
impacting the groundwater recharge potential, such as drainage density, geomorphology, soil types, land use, geology, rainfall, slope, and lineament density, are
extracted from sources like satellite imagery and collateral data. The AHP method
is utilized to estimate the weights of different layers for applying the hierarchical
fuzzy logic to identify potential zones for groundwater recharge. It is found that
about 186.35 km
2 area has very good groundwater recharge potential (GRP), which
is only 12.13% of the total study area. The area with good, average, and low GRP
are about 359.08, 455.29, and 415.44 km
2 respectively. Analyzing the blockwise
distribution of potential zones, it is found that Baghmundi block having 21.9% and
27.76% of its area under very good and good GRP zones respectively, is most suitable
for blockwise implementation of groundwater recharge sites.
Keywords Groundwater · Fuzzy logic · AHP · India
1 Introduction
Water is one of the most vital resources for the existence of life on earth. From
ancient times, groundwater is preferred over surface water as it is free from most
of the pollutants, and its availability is more homogeneous than surface water. A
S. Santra
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
S. Biswas (B)
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology,
Shibpur, Howrah, India
e-mail: sujata@civil.iiests.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
C. Bhuiyan et al. (eds.), Water Security and Sustainability,
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 115,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9805-0_12
131