SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR SURFACE RAINWATER HARVESTING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

Abstract

Delhi region is facing the problem of scarcity of water throughout the year. To check this problem, various efforts have been made. Rainwater harvesting is such an effort which can be used to address the problem of shortage of water effectively. This can be done by constructing check Dams, Percolation Tank, Bore well, Dug well, Dug cum bore well, Farm Pond, etc. In the present dissertation, Selection of suitable rainwater harvesting site are carried out with the help of GIS and remote sensing in Delhi region. In this study suitability of rainwater harvesting sites is carried out by GPS, Survey of India toposheets on scale of 1:250,000, SRTM data for creation of DEM and satellite imagery of LANDSAT ETM+ (30mt. spatial resolution). This study therefore focused on the development of suitability level for most important factor and parameters for identification of such sites. These factors include rainfall, soil texture, drainage, topography and land use / land cover and integration of these factors using weighted overlay analysis with the help of ArcGIS software provide suitable sites for rainwater harvesting. These sites are then classified into various suitability levels, namely, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 5 suitability level is the most suitable region and 1 suitability level is the least suitable region for rainwater harvesting. By applying above process, the results shows that in Delhi region there are several suitable sites with highest suitability level which can be used for Rainwater harvesting. Hence, the conclusion of the study is that site suitability analysis for surface rainwater harvesting using GIS and remote sensing is the better technique for finding rainwater harvesting suitable site with quite appreciable accuracy.