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The Damoh district, which is located in the central India and characterized by limestone, shales, and sandstone compact rock. The district has been facing groundwater development challenges and problems for several decades. To facilitate groundwater management, it is crucial to monitoring and planning based on geology, slope, relief, land use, geomorphology, and the types of the basaltic aquifer in the drought-groundwater deficit area. Moreover, the majority of farmers in the area are heavily dependent on groundwater for their crops. Therefore, delineation of groundwater potential zones (GPZ) is essential, which is defined based on various thematic layers, including geology, geomorphology, slope, aspect, drainage density, lineament density, topographic wetness index (TWI), topographic ruggedness index (TRI), and land use/land cover (LULC). The processing and analysis of this information were carried out using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods. The validity of the results was trained and tested using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, which showed training and testing accuracies of 0.713 and 0.701, respectively. The GPZ map was classified into five classes such as very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. The study revealed that approximately 45% of the area falls under the moderate GPZ, while only 30% of the region is classified as having a high GPZ. The area receives high rainfall but has very high surface runoff due to no proper developed soil and lack of water conservation structures. Every summer season show a declined groundwater level. In this context, results of study area are useful to maintain the groundwater under climate change and summer season. The GPZ map plays an important role in implementing artificial recharge structures (ARS), such as percolation ponds, tube wells, bore wells, cement nala bunds (CNBs), continuous contour trenching (CCTs), and others for development of ground level. This study is significant for developing sustainable groundwater management policies in semi-arid regions, that are experiencing climate change. Proper groundwater potential mapping and watershed development policies can help mitigate the effects of drought, climate change, and water scarcity, while preserving the ecosystem in the Limestone, Shales, and Sandstone compact rock region. The results of this study are essential for farmers, regional planners, policy-makers, climate change experts, and local governments, enabling them to understand the groundwater development possibilities in the study area. • Groundwater potential zone mapping using AHP technique. • Groundwater level and water fluctuation Maps. • ROC of AUC curve showing the accuracy of AHP results. • Recommending the groundwater recharge structure improve the groundwater level in the poor zones area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ulhas River Basin, India has been severely impacted by climate change, frequent rainfall, and an ineffective drainage system in recent years, resulting in flooding. To alleviate flood and water scarcity issues, constructing dams in suitable locations is a crucial water management strategy. In this study, potentiality of sites for dam construction have been evaluated by integrating spatial analytical Multi Influencing Factor (MIF), and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Twelve climatic, geophysical, and accessibility factors were considered to delineate the dam site suitability. The dam site selection suitability map produced using the weighted overlay to delineate the suitability zones as 5 distinct classes "very high (15.36%)," "high (27.90%)," "moderate (25.74%)," "low (22.05%)" and "very low (8.95%). Total five suitable locations for dams have been recommended based on MIF and TOPSIS evaluation. Based on their maximum storage capacity, width, height, and cost, Dam E was given the highest ranking followed by Dam - C, A, B, and D, respectively. The majority of the chosen locations for dam construction were situated in the elevated and gently sloping eastern portion of the Ulhas River Basin. The ROC curve's AUC value was computed to be 0.806, indicating that the model's performance was "good" and suitability map exhibited a strong correlation with the available dam data. This study provides decision-makers with an inexpensive and useful tool to eliminate less suitable sites and concentrate on those with fewer limitations for constructing dams, resulting in valuable insights. [Display omitted] • To alleviate floods and water scarcity, building dams in ideal location is crucial. • Potentiality of sites for dam evaluated by integrating GIS, MIF, and TOPSIS. • Twelve climatic, geophysical, and accessibility factors were considered. • The AUC value of the ROC curve was 0.806, indicating good model performance. • Inexpensive tool aids decision-makers by eliminating unsuitable sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Watershed characterization and prioritization have become essential for proper natural resources management and sustainable development. This paper introduces an empirical hierarchical method based on the multi-criteria analytical hierarchical process (AHP). This method has been applied for sub-watershed or watershed prioritization and land and water development of sensitive areas in the Koyna River Basin. The study area was delineated and classified into nineteen sub-watersheds, which referred as SW1 to SW19. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) methods are highly developed that help planners and policymakers create reliable and timely plans and decisions. The geomorphologic parameters are used in the watershed prioritization analysis covering the linear/areal aspects viz. the bifurcation ratio, stream density, stream frequency, drainage intensity, texture ratio, overland flow with profile factors. Drainage intensity is identified as the most important of morphometric characteristics to identify the prioritization of the watershed. We have found that SW1 to SW5, SW9, SW10, SW16, and SW19 very high priority sub-watersheds, SW6, SW7, SW8, SW11, SW13, SW15, SW17, and SW18 moderate priority sub-watersheds and SW12 and SW14 low priority sub-watersheds in the basin area using RS and GIS methods. These sub-watershed wise planning and management would be beneficial important for the maintaining the ecosystem, and recharging groundwater. The results can be helpful to the development and planning of groundwater resources. • To develop the multi-criteria AHP for identification of watershed prioritization. • The measure geomorphologic parameters would use to watershed prioritization analysis. • The results can be helpful for development and planning of Koyna River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]