Groundwater development studies using remote sensing and GIS techniques in drought prone area of Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India

While water supply is a crucial issue, there is an evidence to suggest that the quality of groundwater supplies is also under threat in recent years. This is the result of salinisation and increasing trend of groundwater exploitation and heterogeneous terrain condition of hard rock area posing major problem in groundwater exploration. Groundwater exploitation has been on the rise in Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka. Competing demands have grown in face of perennial water shortages, a situation which has been exaggerated by drought condition in the past decade. Integrated and environmentally sustainable development strategies have become inevitable for micro-level planning these days. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for spatial analysis and integration. Geomedia Professional 5.1 GIS software was adopted in this process. The ranked maps were spatially integrated and the district area was divided into very good, good, moderate and low groundwater potential zones. Aquifer thickness map was generated by intersection of well inventory, sub-surface geological, geophysical and groundwater potential data. Based on aquifer thickness, aquifer was categorized into deep aquifer, shallow aquifer and moderately deep aquifer. By combining groundwater potential zone and aquifer thickness, the watershed area was reclassified into eleven priority zones, recommended for different agricultural practices, groundwaterdevelopment and management of aquifer recharge