Assessment of groundwater potential zone using GIS-based multi-influencing factor (MIF), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and electrical resistivity survey techniques in Raipur city, Chhattisgarh, India

The present study involved the combined applications of advanced techniques and tools like remote sensing, geographic informatic system (GIS), electrical resistivity, MCDA, to assess the potential zones of groundwater occurrence. Several prepared thematic layers, including geology, geomorphology, rainfall, lineament, land use land cover (LULC), drainage density, soil type, slope, and soil texture, were assigned with a weight, depending on their influence on groundwater potential. Normalization concerned with relative contribution is applied in this study using the AHP method. Vertical electrical sounding has been conducted on different points to locate water-bearing formations/fracture zones. The resulting groundwater potential areas that are delineated applying these methods have been categorized into five zones, low, medium, medium-high, high, and very high potential. The groundwater potential zones demarcated show that high potential zones are present in the west and north-eastern portion, while low to medium groundwater potential is located in the central and eastern portion. The obtained result was validated using well yield data, and ROC method from which result accuracy obtained is 80% and the area under the ROC curve is found to be 0.857 at a significance value of less than 0.001, which justifies the efficacy of the proposed approach in the demarcation of groundwater potential zone.