POTENTIAL GROUND WATER TARGETING AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN SEMI ARID REGION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF GEO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System has become one of the leading tools in the field of hydro geological science, which helps in assessing, monitoring and conserving groundwater resources. It allows manipulation and analysis of individual layer of spatial data. It is used for analyzing and modeling the interrelationship between the layers. This paper mainly deals with the integrated approach of Remote Sensing and geographical information system (GIS) to delineate groundwater potential zones in semi arid region of southern western hats, kerala. The remotely sensed data at the scale of 1:50,000 and topographical information from available maps, have been used for the preparation of ground water prospective map by integrating geology, geomorphology, soil slope, soil elevation, landuse of the study area. Further, the data on yield of aquifer, as observed from existing bore wells in the area, has been used to validate the groundwater potential map. The final result depicts the favorable prospective zones in the study area and can be helpful in better planning and management of groundwater resources especially in semi arid region. For the ground water resource management water scares area is also identified by using geographic analysis. Based on this construction of ground water recharge structure location were identified by using spatial analysis techniques. Ground water recharge structures like check dams, gully control structures are useful for the sustainable ground water management.