Groundwater Potential Zone Mapping Using an Integrated Approach of GIS-Based AHP-TOPSIS in Ujjain District, Madhya Pradesh, India

Groundwater is the world’s most significant natural source for ensuring dependable and long-term water supplies. Various variables, like as population explosion, urbanization, and modernization, are putting groundwater supplies in jeopardy. The use of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) to evaluate groundwater resources has become widespread. In the current research, groundwater potential zones (GWPZs) of the Ujjain district were estimated using the Integrated RS-GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approaches. Various thematic layers were obtained from appropriate sources, including land use–land cover, soil, slope, geology, geomorphology, drainage density, lithology, elevation, and rainfall. The AHP and TOPSIS approaches were used to assign weights to the parameters and their characteristics, and discovered that the geomorphology layer has the most influence of all. Finally, the final GWPZ map was created by combining the selected theme maps using a weighted overlay analysis in ArcGIS software. For both AHP and TOPSIS, the resultant groundwater potential (GWP) map has been categorized into five classes: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high: based on the results obtained using AHP, very low potential zone (1.78%), low (26.54%), moderate (45.76%), high (26.96%), and very high (1.48%), similarly using TOPSIS, very low potential zone (4.67%), low (24.42%), moderate (35.53%), high (32.16%), and very high (3.22%). The study’s findings can be used to create an effective groundwater action plan for the study area, assuring the long-term usage of significant groundwater resources. This research will be extremely useful to water managers in terms of long-term groundwater supply.