IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SITES FOR HARVESTING RAINWATER USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES

Rain Water harvesting (RWH) is a need of current research and due to growing water crisis in the world, it is expected that two third of the world population will be exposed to water scarcity by 2025. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is the best technique which can be used effectively to collect the unutilized surface runoff and increase the groundwater recharge. But these structures have to be located at places where water is available in excess and conditions are favorable for enhanced infiltration. Therefore, the research objective of the presented work is to identify rainwater harvesting potential site using Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) integrated with Hydrological Modeling (HM), Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) in Prayagraj District, South-Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, India. We have utilized thematic layers such as Slope, Soil, Land Use Land Cover maps, Drainage Network and Curve Number to evaluate potential zones of RWH. From the obtained results, it is found that potential zones for harvested rainwater could play a critical role to establish check dams for RWH and to prevent water scarcity in next few decades.