Groundwater suitability zonation with synchronized GIS and MCDM approach for urban and peri-urban phreatic aquifer ensemble of southern India

The integrated application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique is employed for groundwater (GW) suitability zonation in the phreatic coastal aquifer of two differently urbanized clusters in the south west coast of India. The normalized weights in accordance with the WHO and BIS standards were obtained using the MCDM technique-Analytical Network Process integrated with the spatially interpolated GW quality data and performed overlay analysis using spatial analysis tool, ArcGIS-10. The Mann-Whitney U test confirmed the significant (P ≤ 0.05) spatial variation between urban and peri-urban GW quality variables. The groundwater quality index divided the study area into four zones as highly suitable – 60%, suitable –24%, moderately suitable and unsuitable – 16% regions. The study endowed a new platform for the integration of field data and geospatial techniques for sustainable urban water quality management.