Assessment of Groundwater Potential in District Chakwal, Punjab: A GIS and Remote Sensing Perspective

A GIS and Remote Sensing Use in Water

Abstract

The existing fresh water resources are insufficient to fulfill the water requirements for different uses such as drinking, agriculture irrigation and for industrialization purposes. Present study carried out for the identification of groundwater potential zones by using Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing Techniques in the district Chakwal, a water scarce area lying in the Pothohar region of Punjab province, Pakistan. The land-use/land cover, geology, rainfall, drainage density and slope data have been incorporated to identify groundwater potential zones. Freely available landsat satellite data for landuse/landcover classification and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the extraction of slope, drainage network have been used. However, available geological maps for the study area were incorporated as an input raster layers in analyses. Weighted Overlay analyses were performed to produce the resultant map showing the spatial distribution pattern of ground water potential. Results showed the water potential zones as; (i) unsuitable area=2756 sq.km, (ii) moderately suitable area=3256 sq.km and (iii) suitable land=3256 sq.km. North side of the district shows better water potential in comparison to the south of study area. This can be due to hard rocks in the south of study area causing inference in ground water recharge. The present highlights the usefulness of processed remote sensing satellite data and GIS techniques used for the production of ground water potential zone map.