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ISSN 2063-5346
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Groundwater Resource Identification in the Eastern Ghats Terrain of the Maredumilli Mandal Area in East Godavari District,Andhra Pradesh,India, Applying AHP (Analytical Hierarchical Process) and WOA (Weighted Overlay Analysis)

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V.Sulochana Rani*,S.K. Begum, and P.Venkateswara Rao.
» doi: 10.48047/ecb/2022.12.10.614

Abstract

The Maredumilli Mandal is the present study area consisting of hard crystalline rocks of the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt. The residents of this area have been suffering from severe water scarcity. To overcome this problem, the authors of this paper have made attempt to integrate both Remote Sensing and hydrogeological data to identify the groundwater potential zones in this area. GIS analysis has been used to study the thematic layers related to geology, geomorphology, lineament density, land use/cover, slope. soil and drainage density. Based on their relative significance in affecting the groundwater recharge to supply potential aquifers, Saaty's Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to calculate the weights of all thematic levels and the ranks of the pertinent subclasses within each layer. Weighted Overlay Analysis (WOA) was used to combine all of the theme layers and create the Groundwater Potential Zonation map for the research area. This map exhibits four distinct groundwater qualities viz., good, moderate, poor, and very poor. These four groundwater potential zones cover the areas of 14.94 sq. km, 402.85 sq. km, 517.80 sq. km, and 12.10 sq. km respectively. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve has been used for Cross-validation and the results revealed an accurate and impressive prediction. This integrated approach yields satisfactory results in terms of delineating groundwater potential zones in the area. These results may help the people living there in drilling bore wells which can produce water for their domestic needs. Only moderate potential zones are found in the study area's central region, where the Khondalite series of rocks serve as the main geological formations, and good groundwater potential zones are found there, where agriculture is practised on a type of soil with effective porosity and permeability.

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