Assessment of groundwater potential zones using GIS and remote sensing techniques in the Muger Watershed, Abay Basin, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Groundwater is one of the most dynamic natural resources, but its distribution varies over time and across locations. Factors such as climate change, overexploitation, and poor management have made it increasingly important to assess groundwater resources for sustainable use in residential, agricultural, and industrial sectors. This study maps the groundwater potential zones (GWPZs) of the Muger Watershed in Ethiopia using GIS and remote sensing, integrating the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The study uses seven thematic layers that influence groundwater potential: slope, rainfall, lithology, land use/land cover, drainage density, soil types, and lineament density. The study integrates and overlays these thematic layers in GIS using a weighted overlay analysis tool, while the AHP method ranks the layers and their associated sub-themes based on their suitability, attributes, and influence on GWPZs. The study classifies groundwater prospects into five categories: very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. These categories cover 2.485, 54.554, 32.22, 10.715, and 0.022% of the landscape, respectively. The current well locations verified the groundwater potential map, showing an accuracy of 80%. The resulting potentiality mapping has been essential for the sustainable development and management of water resources in the research region.