AHP technique use for develop GIS model of groundwater potential zone in parts of Bhopal district

Water is the most important natural resource that supports life of planetary Earth. It is the basic need of human to carry out their routine activities. In this case study, an attempt has been done to delineate groundwater potential zones in Kaliyasote Milli-Watershed in Bhopal district, Madhya Pradesh, India covering an area of 84 sq. km. The various thematic maps namely geological, geomorphological, lineament, slope, drainage and drainage density have been generated using IRS (P6-resourcesat) LISS III data and referenced by Survey of India (SOI) toposheets. The information extracted from all the thematic maps have been integrated in GIS environment and all process have been done in the geoprocessing modular builder tool in ArcGIS. ModelBuilder engine is a comprehensive geographic decision support tool that makes the solving of complicated problem simple. each map has given some weightage based on its suitability to groundwater. The method adopted to assign weightage has Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which produced considerable results. On the basis of hydrology and geomorphic characteristics, six categories on groundwater prospect zones have been identified i.e. excellent, very good, good, moderate, poor and very poor to NIL. The analysis reveals that the lineaments on pediplain have excellent groundwater potential followed by pediplain with very good to good potential whereas plateau remnants, lateritic uplands and cuesta have moderate to very poor potential.