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A GIS-Based Modelling for Identifying High Priority Areas for Groundwater Recharge



Author(s)

Hamid Mohebzadeh, Amirmassoud Fathi, Shahram Navabi, Peiman Parisouj and Alireza Nazari

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DOI:10.17265/2159-581X/2018.03.001

At semi-arid areas that dominant portion of required water for agriculture is provided by exploitation of groundwater, these resources encounter with more deterioration. Thus identifying of potential runoff generating sites and estimation of runoff depth can be a significant step for storing runoff for agricultural activities and groundwater recharge. The main purposes of this study are use of GIS (geographic information system) ability for identifying of potential runoff generating sites, and thus identifying high priority areas for groundwater recharge in the Gharehchay River watershed in the north of Hamedan province, Iran. Potential runoff generating sites were identified by using watershed features same as slope, land use and hydrological soil groups. Afterward, CN I (Curve Number I) technique, which is one of the eight derivations of the NRCS-CN (natural resources conservation services curve number) method, was utilized to calculate rainfall-runoff depth in the study region. Finally, map layers were ranked in order of highest priority to lowest priority, based on the criteria of each dataset, and high priority areas for groundwater recharge were identified by integrating potential runoff map, runoff depth and depth to groundwater maps. Spatial analysis revealed that 51% of the study region has a high priority for groundwater recharge.

GIS, runoff potential map, runoff depth estimation, groundwater recharge, high priority maps.