Site Selection for Groundwater Artificial Recharge in Silakhor Rangelands Using GIS Technique

Abstract

Groundwater is among the most important resources of drinking water supply of the worldwide population. Use of recharge area is one of the methods for artificially recharging groundwater. Selection of suitable sites for artificial recharge is very important and must be carried out accurately. There are different types of land use, only rangelands are appropriate for artificial recharge because of their topographical situations. In this study, the groundwater artificial recharge suitable area of Silakhor, Borujerd of Iran rangelands was investigated and extracted using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The layer information of rainfall, soil, lithology, slope, land use and fault components were prepared and weighed by applying AHP method and were used for artificial recharge site selection. Aquifer artificial recharge maps showed that in Silakhor catchment 14%, 64.8% and 21.2% of the area of the catchment had high, moderate and low capability for artificial recharge, respectively. The most suitable areas were located in the low land areas.