Water Resource Evaluation and Identifying Groundwater Potential Zones in Arid area using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System

Abstract

Groundwater resource is the main conventional source of fresh water all over the world. However, recent revelations indicated that the shortage of water resources remains the main challenge for the arid areas. In this regard, identifying groundwater potential zones or areas can help to improve the availability of fresh water and effective management of groundwater in arid areas. This work finds the water resources and identify the groundwater potential zones of arid areas using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The study uses Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as one of the most arid area and divides entire KSA into five regions namely northern, central, western, southern and eastern to evaluate and indicate the groundwater prospective zones effectively and clearly. The northern region (Al Jouf, Tabuk, Hail and Al-Qassim), Saq and overlying aquifers play an important role in water supply in Saudi Arabia. About 17.90% of the total area of this region identified as a groundwater potential zone. Based on geomorphological factors, the Wadi catchment areas act as the best appropriate regions for groundwater recharge in the northern area. Regarding the central region (Al-Riyad province), about 1.47% and 4.15% may be categorized as excellent and very good while 12.59%, 74.82% and 6.97% are considered as good, poor and very poor groundwater potential zone. In the western area (Wadi Yalanlan basin), the lower part of the Wadi Yalamlam basin is the most promising zone for groundwater availability containing both high and moderate potential areas. Also, high groundwater potential zones can be found on the northern side of the central dyke region surrounding Abu Helal’s farm. 50.5% and 31% of the southern area (Jazan region) contain excellent and good groundwater potential areas while 16% and 2.5% of the regions showed average low groundwater potential zones. The eastern region had characteristics of extreme arid and desert environments. Based on the features, the area did not contain any groundwater potential zone. The current evaluation of groundwater potential areas in Saudi Arabia can serve as a significant tool for efficient groundwater resource management.