| dc.description.abstract | The objective of this paper is to exploit the potential application of weighted index overlay analysis
for assessing groundwater potential mapping in Nakasongola District, Uganda using remote
sensing, geographic information system (GIS) technique and multi-criteria decision Analysis
(MCDA). For this purpose, eight groundwater occurrences and movement controlling factors,
including, Geology, slope, land use land cover (LULC), rainfall, lineaments, soil, and drainage
density were mapped. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights
of various themes and their classes for identifying groundwater potential zones. The weights were
applied in a linear combination to obtain four different groundwater potential zones in the study
area, namely ‘low”, ‘moderate’, ‘high’, and ‘very high’. It has been concluded that about 2.23 km2
area has very high groundwater potential which is only 0.07% of the total study area and about
417.88 km2 area has high groundwater potential which is only 12.07% of the total study area.
However, the area having moderate and low groundwater potential is about 1442.99 km2 and
1598.47 km2 which is about 41.69% and 46.18% respectively of the study area. The groundwater
potential zone map was finally verified using the well yield data of 31 pumping wells, and the
results reveal that 70.9% of groundwater inventory data agree with the corresponding groundwater
potential zone classifications. As a result, the map generated using this platform could be used as
a preliminary reference in selecting suitable sites for groundwater resource exploitation. | en_US |
