An integrated genetic algorithm-fuzzy classifier (GA-FUZZY) to identify optimal sub-catchments for placing artificial ground recharge points.

Water plays a vital role in all living organisms on earth. With rapid urbanization, water is exploited at a greater pace than any other natural resource. The unavailability of water for all basic needs is at great risk. An optimization approach was developed to identify optimal sub-catchment with maximum runoff to implement Artificial Ground Recharge Points (AGRP) to raise the water groundwater table to mitigate the above-stated problem. This research focuses on developing an AGRP in the Noyyal River basin sub-catchments in Coimbatore city of Tamil Nadu, India. The methodology consists of three phases; in the first phase, the data for the work are collected from various sources. In the next phase, the data are pre-processed to convert various data formats to a standard format for easy processing. In the third phase, the pre-processed data are passed as an input to the genetic algorithm, the fuzzy logic is used as a fitness function to effectively calculate the rainfall-runoff events of each sub-catchments. The rules for calculating rainfall-runoff are carried out at three levels, as the first level, the area of influence in each sub-catchment by each rain gauge station is calculated to assign the rainfall values. In the second level, the area of influence and Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classification for each sub-catchment is carried out to assign runoff co-efficient for each classification. As the final level, area of influence, LULC, and soil classification for each sub-catchment were carried out to calculate the infiltration rate. The classified data are passed as an input to calculate the rainfall-runoff for each sub-catchments for a period of eleven years (2010–2020) is done. The optimal sub-catchments with maximum runoff are obtained. The assessment of rainfall-runoff events for various sub-catchments in the study region indicates water flow in the streams. The long flow of streams into the city results in fresh rainwater being contaminated, contributing to groundwater contamination. The GA-FUZZY provides optimal sub-catchments to establish AGRP to use rainfall water effectively. The outcome of the work is a scalable methodology that can help the Public Works Department to implement AGRP in various river basins to increase the water table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]