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S. Santra and S. Biswas
constant increase in demand for water leading to rapid growth in water consumption
can be seen in recent years, whereas a relatively massive growth in consumption of
groundwater over the surface water can be seen prior to 1990 [1].
This extracted groundwater must be recharged to maintain a steady groundwater
level. Due to excessive usage, natural groundwater recharge has become insufficient
to replenish the groundwater. As a result, the groundwater table has been depressed
all over the world [2] and especially in India [3]. In some areas, it has even gone
out of the feasible extraction range. This depression of groundwater level affected
surface water, resulting in drying up of many rivers, lakes, and shallow water bodies
in the last few decades. This has become an international crisis and an alarming
concern for today’s environmental scientists and water resources engineers. In India,
specifically over the northern India, a steady lowering of the groundwater table is
observed in the past few decades [4].
As a remedial step, we may use technology to replenish the depleted water level
by using the concept of artificial groundwater recharge. Today many researchers
are trying to find a proper place, method, and amount of groundwater recharge to
mitigate the crisis. As a handy tool for analyzing the large area, remote sensing (RS)
and geographic information system (GIS) are playing an important role in these
studies.
Utilization of remote sensing and GIS for the exploration of groundwater and
the identification of artificial recharge sites can be found in much earlier studies.
Data from Linear Imaging Selfscanning Sensor (LISS-II) onboard Indian Remote
Sensing Satellites (IRS-1A, 1B and P2) was combined with the information derived
from digital elevation model (DEM) using GIS to find the suitable sites for groundwater recharge over the hard rock terrain in the Sironj area of Vidisha district of
Madhya Pradesh, India [5]. A similar technique was used to determine groundwater recharge potential zones in Lebanon, where lineament and drainage density,
karstic domains, land cover, and lithologic character were determined using satellite images (Landsat 7 ETM & SPOT) and aerial photographs, further integrating
them in GIS [6]. Thematic maps constructed merging LISS-III and panchromatic
(PAN) remote sensing data and aquifer parameters from field data were integrated
using GIS to create a map of groundwater recharge potential zones over the Jammu
district, India [7]. Weighted thematic layers of five contributing factors, lithology,
land cover, lineaments, drainage, and slope derived using aerial photographs, geology
maps, and a land-use database were combined using GIS to delineate groundwater
recharge potential zones in Taiwan [8]. With the development of modern computational techniques and the availability of updated computational resources, a scope
was created to refine the results from the approaches mentioned above using soft
computing. One of the initial studies using an integrated approach to combine GIS
with a decision support system (DSS) for the delineation of groundwater recharge
potential sites was carried out by [9] over the Meimeh Basin, Iran.
The next big change took place when GIS was combined with numerical modeling
techniques to delineate the groundwater recharge potential zones in the arid region
of Maknassy basin, Tunisia [10]. A combination of RS, GIS, and multi-criteria
decision-making (MCDM) techniques using normalized weights computed using
S. Santra and S. Biswas
constant increase in demand for water leading to rapid growth in water consumption
can be seen in recent years, whereas a relatively massive growth in consumption of
groundwater over the surface water can be seen prior to 1990 [1].
This extracted groundwater must be recharged to maintain a steady groundwater
level. Due to excessive usage, natural groundwater recharge has become insufficient
to replenish the groundwater. As a result, the groundwater table has been depressed
all over the world [2] and especially in India [3]. In some areas, it has even gone
out of the feasible extraction range. This depression of groundwater level affected
surface water, resulting in drying up of many rivers, lakes, and shallow water bodies
in the last few decades. This has become an international crisis and an alarming
concern for today’s environmental scientists and water resources engineers. In India,
specifically over the northern India, a steady lowering of the groundwater table is
observed in the past few decades [4].
As a remedial step, we may use technology to replenish the depleted water level
by using the concept of artificial groundwater recharge. Today many researchers
are trying to find a proper place, method, and amount of groundwater recharge to
mitigate the crisis. As a handy tool for analyzing the large area, remote sensing (RS)
and geographic information system (GIS) are playing an important role in these
studies.
Utilization of remote sensing and GIS for the exploration of groundwater and
the identification of artificial recharge sites can be found in much earlier studies.
Data from Linear Imaging Selfscanning Sensor (LISS-II) onboard Indian Remote
Sensing Satellites (IRS-1A, 1B and P2) was combined with the information derived
from digital elevation model (DEM) using GIS to find the suitable sites for groundwater recharge over the hard rock terrain in the Sironj area of Vidisha district of
Madhya Pradesh, India [5]. A similar technique was used to determine groundwater recharge potential zones in Lebanon, where lineament and drainage density,
karstic domains, land cover, and lithologic character were determined using satellite images (Landsat 7 ETM & SPOT) and aerial photographs, further integrating
them in GIS [6]. Thematic maps constructed merging LISS-III and panchromatic
(PAN) remote sensing data and aquifer parameters from field data were integrated
using GIS to create a map of groundwater recharge potential zones over the Jammu
district, India [7]. Weighted thematic layers of five contributing factors, lithology,
land cover, lineaments, drainage, and slope derived using aerial photographs, geology
maps, and a land-use database were combined using GIS to delineate groundwater
recharge potential zones in Taiwan [8]. With the development of modern computational techniques and the availability of updated computational resources, a scope
was created to refine the results from the approaches mentioned above using soft
computing. One of the initial studies using an integrated approach to combine GIS
with a decision support system (DSS) for the delineation of groundwater recharge
potential sites was carried out by [9] over the Meimeh Basin, Iran.
The next big change took place when GIS was combined with numerical modeling
techniques to delineate the groundwater recharge potential zones in the arid region
of Maknassy basin, Tunisia [10]. A combination of RS, GIS, and multi-criteria
decision-making (MCDM) techniques using normalized weights computed using