Application of remote sensing and GIS in Ground water prospecting :

Abstract

Since last decade, the value per barrel of potable ground water has outpaced the value of a barrel of oil in many areas of the. world. Hence proper assessment of groundwater potential and management practices are the needs of the day. Establishing relationship between Remotely Sensed data and hydrologic phenomenon can maximize the efficiency of water resources development projects. Present study focuses on ground water potential assessment in Busiterna Sub county of Busia District and its field verification. For the same, all-the basic factors determining the existence and movement of ground were identified and their thematic layers were formulated, digitized and integrated in the GIS environment using Weighted Index Overlay Analysis (WJOA) method. The weights of different parameters/ themes were computed using Analytic Hierarchy process (ARP,) Multi-Criteria Evaluation. (MCE) technique" Through this integrated GIS analysis, ground water prospects map of the study area, was prepared qualitatively. Field. verification at existing wells was used to verify identified potential zones and depth of water measured, at observation wells, ground water flow nets (Ground water table contours)' were generated using the water levels of the existing wells. Generated map from weighted overlay using AHP performed very well in predicting the groundwater potential zones since the existing wells were found in the most promising-zones and hence this methodology proves to be a promising tool for future.