Delineation of groundwater potential zones in low-hills of Himachal Pradesh using remote sensing and GIS Lalrinzuali R.K.*, Aggarwal R.K., Bhardwaj S.K. Department of Environmental Science, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, India *Email: ravenrinz@gmail.com
Online Published on 15 February, 2024. Abstract Over-exploitation of groundwater for industrial and developmental activities over the years has imposed immense pressure on groundwater resources in low-hills of Himachal Pradesh. For this reason, delineating the groundwater potential zone is highly essential for meeting future demands. Therefore, the current study utilizes remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) by using weighted overlay method to prepare a groundwater potential zone map of two districts lying in low-hills of Himachal Pradesh. A total of 8 thematic layers viz. slope, geology, aspect, soil, land use land classification, drainage density, and lineament were integrated and weightage values were assigned to each of these factors. The groundwater potential zones thus obtained were divided into five categories: very high, high, moderate, low and poor. In Sirmaur district, very high zone comprises 3.76% of the area, high zone covers 3.05%, 3.83% of the region comes under moderate zone, low zone covers 15.27% of the area and 74.62% of the area was under poor zone. In Una district very high zone covers 1.24% of the area, 1.80% falls under high zone, moderate zone comprises 15.61% of the area, low zone covers 63.83% while poor zone comprises of 17.52%. The results of the current investigation may be useful for future groundwater potential zones plans and for evaluating groundwater potential zones in similar low-hill regions. Top Keywords Groundwater, Remote sensing, GIS, Groundwater potential zones. Top |