Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: The case of Balkh Province, Northern Afghanistan

Without proper data and standard methods, assessing and determining groundwater resources in mountains and flat dry plains is difficult for a region. In this case, a GIS-based groundwater resource assessment is deemed a viable option. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a Multiple-criterial decision-making analytical methodology, is used to designate groundwater potential zones in the Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. Several influential factors were provided for this purpose, including lithology, distance from the river, slope, drainage density, land-use/land-cover (LU/LC), lineament density, and rainfall. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Data were used to create these theme layers (TRMM). The data was processed and plotted in a GIS environment. The groundwater potential zone map's final output was grouped into four groundwater potential zones based on seven thematic layers (lithology, slope, drainage density, lineament density, LU/LC, distance from the river, and rainfall). They are very low (10.87%), low (35.13%), moderate (30.76%), and high (23.24 %).

water level data was used to validate the results. The overall accuracy (71%) indicates a moderate to a good connection between the result outcomes and the water level data from the well. The findings provide further information. Local authorities may use the GWPZs map to establish sustainable water resource management.