GROUNDWATER POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT USING GIS AND AHP IN ANIOCHA SOUTH LGA, DELTA STATE

ABSTRACT

In this study, Remote Sensing (RS), Land-sat 8 digital data, and digital elevation models (DEMs) from the Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) along with other stereotypical data such as geology and rainfall were digitized and analyzed to create various thematic maps (geology, land use/cover, soil, drainage density, rainfall and slope maps) required for groundwater modelling in the study area. These thematic maps were assigned well-chosen weights and different rankings to the individual categories within each thematic map using a manual Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Parameters which had high influence on groundwater potential assessment were given higher percentages based on some criteria and others were which had low impact given low percentages. The groundwater potential zones are achieved by overlaying the thematic maps using the spatial analysis tool in Arc-GIS 10.8. The result from the Groundwater potential map showed that A total of 5.51% of the 47km² area is classified as having excellent groundwater potential; 41.84% of the 360 km² area is classified as having good groundwater potential; 41.5% of the 352 km² area is classified as having moderate groundwater potential; 11.07% of the 95 km² area is classified as having fair groundwater potential; and 0.0165% of the 14 km² area is classified as having poor potential. This shows that there is a good groundwater potential in the LGA.