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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 03

March 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 223

Groundwater Potential Zone Identification Using Geospatial

Technologies in Rural Areas, Part of Dindigul District

N.A.Nainamohamed and M.Muthukumar

Department of Rural Development, the Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University, Dindigul

E-mail: naina8488@gmail.com

Abstract

The recent technology is been used to

carry out study as main theme. Raster data such

as ETM has been used to classify the land use/

land cover variations. All the substantial data

correlated with each other for the better

understand. This study revealed the importance

of remote sensing technique on the water

resources investigation. This study concluded

that the most of the study area falls under high

to moderate level of water potential for

irrigational purpose.

Keywords: Groundwater potential,

Geospatial, Mapping, Land use/Land

cover, Dindigul

Introduction

The recent techniques such

as Remote sensing and GIS are very much

helpful to study and to investigate more

scientific researches. Especially, on the

water resources studies, planning purposes

and change detection studies the remote

sensing based studies are very much

essential and stimulate the time. The

creation of a systematic database of

information from satellite data for

reconnaissance survey before going for the

exploration. Color composite images from

Landsat Thematic Mapper and Indian

Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite were used to

Interpret various thematic maps of

the Vaasa river basin. SPOT 1 MLA data of

band 3 on

a 1:250 000 scale was used for

improving the accuracy of interpretation of

topographic units due to its higher resolution

and stereo coverage. Slope and other

coverage’s were derived from topographic

maps. The thematic and topographic

information was digitized and ERDAS

Imagine GIS software was used to analyze

this information. Groundwater potential

zones were delineated through subjective

weights assigned to interpreted thematic and

derived topographic units according to their

likely infiltration capacities (Murthy, 2000).

Groundwater prospect zones in Dala- Renukoot area, in Sonebhadra district. Uttar

Pradesh, India has been delineated, through

integration of various thematic maps using

ARC/INFO GIS. Each theme was assigned a

weightage depending on its influence on the

movement and storage of groundwater and

each unit in every theme map is assigned a

knowledge based ranking from 1 to 5

depending on its significance to

groundwater occurrence. All the themes are

overlaid, two at a time and the resultant

composite coverage is classified into five

groundwater prospect categories

(Kamaleshwar et al 2000). The systematic

Page 2 of 4

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 03

March 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 224

planning of groundwater exploitation using

modern technologies is essential for the

proper utilization of this precious natural

resource. On this basis, we extracted

information on lithology, geological

structures, land forms, land use/land cover

from remotely sensed data and drainage

networks, soil characteristics and slope of

the terrain using conventional methods and

then integrated in a GIS environment to

depict village-wise groundwater prospect

zones. Saraf et al (2006) studied an

integrated remote sensing and GIS based

methodology is developed and tested for the

evaluation of groundwater resources of Silai

watershed, Bankura district, West Bengal.

All the information layers have been

integrated through GIS analysis and the

criteria for groundwater prospective zones

mapping and artificial recharge site selection

have been defined. Weighted index overlay

method has been followed to delineate

groundwater prospective zones and a

combination of weighted index overlay and

Boolean logic method has been used for the

selection of future artificial recharge

sites.Amaresh et al (2004) identified the

groundwater potential zones by integrating

various thematic maps generated on 1:

50,000 scale. These maps are integrated

after assigning weight factors to the

identified features in each thematic map

depending upon their infiltration

characteristics and the groundwater potential

zones in Nagar block of Mirzapur district,

Uttar Pradesh are demarcated. The area of

investigation has been classified into eight

categories of groundwater potentiality. The

present results show that integration of all

attributes provides more accurate results in

identification of groundwater potential

zones.

Study area

The present study area is Block of

Athoor, Batlagundu, Nilakottai blocks of

Dindigul district lies between 770

28’43.5138” and 780

9’22.9824”latitude and

between 90

59’58.3224 to 100

21’48.459”

longitude (Fig.1). The area is bounded in the

North part by a Dindigul block of Dindigul

District on the west by Theni district and

south and east by Madurai district The

physiographic of the area can be divided

into two major topographic regions viz. (a)

the elevated areas in the North west and

ridges are present in the east direction.

Elevated areas in the North West and ridges

are present in the east direction.

Page 3 of 4

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 02 Issue 03

March 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 225

Materials and Methods

Toposheets from Survey of India, Guindy,

Chennai

has been

utilized.

Remote sensing image also used for this

study as essentially. Data acquisition

involves with the collection of maps, rainfall

data, water level data and other hydro

geological data for the study area. The

spatial data of study area such as soil, land

use, geology, geomorphology and lineament

classified in the same scale of 1:50,000.All

the layers have been classified, given

weightage and ranked using GIS software.

Result and Discussion

The map (Fig.2) differentiates

classification of groundwater potential

ranges. Yellow indicates the very potential

zones, red indicates the low potential zones,

pink indicates moderate and green indicates

high potential zones. The very low notified

in low percentile areas in the study area.

Most of the area falls under the high to

moderate level of potential of groundwater

zones.

Conclusion

The remote sensing based study is

very essential and useful for these kinds

of studies and it is proven in this study

too. It is concluded the most villages in

the Athoor, Batlagundu, and Nillakottai

blocks are holding moderate to high level

of water potential (Fig.2). This shows the

agricultural plans are to claimed well

compared to the other places in the

district. Harvesting rainwater in these

areas can be utilized as an mitigation

strategy for the areas where the water

needs are important in certain periods.

Acknowledgements

The authors are very much grateful to

the Institute and

Dr.P.Anandharajakumar, Professor &

Head of Department, Department of

Rural Development, The Gandhigram

Rural Institute – Deemed University,

Dindigul, Tamilnadu.

Fig.1: Key map of the study area

Fig.2: Groundwater Potential Classification