Identification and classification of suitable water recharge/harvesting site in an arid environment

Abstract

In the arid and semi arid area of the world, also rainfall patterns are unpredictable, both in amount and time, but, rainfall could be sufficient to make rainwater recharging/harvesting as a reliable and economical source of water .Artificial recharge methods describes all methods for concentrating, storing and collecting runoff from rainwater. The main object of this research is investigated to identify the potential sites to construct rainwater-harvesting structures using remote sensing and geographical information system. Attempt was made to understand the basaltic terrain in spatial context to find out the rainwater harvesting structures like farm ponds, check dams and flood spreading deriving from thematic layers such as landuse/landcover, slope, soil, drainage and runoff from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery and other collateral data. Subsequently, these layers were processed to derive runoff from Soil Conservation Service Curve Number SCS-CN method using Arc-CN runoff tool. The thematic layers overlaid using intersection based on these specifications. Derived sites were investigated for its suitability and implementation by ground truth field verification. In conclusion, the method adopted in present study deciphers the more precise, accurate and ability to process large catchment area than other methods.