Evaluating groundwater potential in industrial areas: a Fuzzy-AHP approach incorporating water quality considerations

Abstract Industrial regions face a significant problem in groundwater management due to increased water demand and potential contamination risks. To establish an effective groundwater management plan in the industrial region, comprehensive understanding of both groundwater availability and quality is needed. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to determine the groundwater potential zone (GWPZ) of an industrial region while also taking water quality into account. For this purpose, the combination of remote sensing (RS), geographical information systems (GIS), and the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) was used. Geology, drainage density, rainfall, soil, slope, elevation, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), land use/land cover (LULC), and topographic wetness index (TWI) layers were integrated for the assessment. The GWPZ map is divided into five classes: very poor (10.01%), poor (21.79%), medium (31.36%), high (27.13%), and very high (9.71%) zones. The water quality parameters that exceeded the desirable limit in the study region was selected for groundwater quality zone (GWQZ) mapping. The GWQZ map was classified into three categories: within desirable limit (26.40%), within permissible limit (49.28%), and above permissible limit (24.32%). The integration of these two maps revealed that certain locations with medium to high GWPZ have low groundwater quality. Some areas of the very poor GWPZ had quite excellent groundwater quality. This study provided valuable insights into the spatial distribution of groundwater resources, highlighting areas where potential conflicts between quantity and quality may arise. This research showed that for sustainable management, both the quality and quantity of groundwater resources should be considered.