Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.33765/thate.16.4.4
Published in: Holistic Approach Environ. 16(2026) 4, pp. 183 – 196
Paper reference number: HAE-2612
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DELINEATION OF GROUNDWATER POTENTIAL ZONES USING ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS AND GIS IN BHILANGANA BLOCK OF TEHRI GARHWAL DISTRICT, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

Siddharth Rana*, Gaurav Gaurav**, Mohan Singh Panwar*

* Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (A Central University), Department of Geography, School of Earth Sciences, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India

** University of Delhi, Indraprastha College for Women, Department of Geography, New Delhi, India

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ABSTRACT

Groundwater is one of the most reliable freshwater resources globally, but overexploitation has led to declining water tables, deteriorating water quality, and increased water scarcity. These problems have raised serious questions about how sustainable groundwater management can be achieved. In recent times, geospatial techniques and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) have been increasingly applied to assess groundwater availability. This research aims to delineate groundwater potential zones in the Bhilangana Block using the above-mentioned methods. Initially, remote sensing data were employed to generate thematic layers, including geomorphology, geology, slope, elevation, drainage density, lineament density, soil, rainfall, and land use/land cover. Subsequently, these layers were integrated using a multi-criteria evaluation approach, and weights were assigned using AHP-based weighted overlay analysis. The resulting groundwater potential zones were classified into five categories: very low and low (over 45 %), moderate (35.05 %), high (16.66 %), and very high (3.81 %). The findings of this research offer insights into groundwater occurrence in the study area, which could be helpful for sustainable groundwater management and long-term planning of water resources.

Keywords: AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process), GIS (Geographic Information System), groundwater potential zones, groundwater sustainability 
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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