Finding the potential of underground water resources of Saghez city using fuzzy hierarchical analysis process (FAHP) in GIS platform

In recent years, with the increase in population, industrial development, illegal harvesting, increase in cultivated areas and drought, the use of underground water resources has multiplied. With the continuation of this practice, the level of underground water has decreased day by day. Therefore, the identification of underground water resources, its optimal use and management means sustainable and permanent harvesting of these precious resources. The method of weighted overlap analysis using multi-criteria decision-making techniques (MCDM), fuzzy hierarchical analytical process (FAHP) along with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing knowledge in this study to find the potential of underground water resources in Saghez city watershed was used. In order to implement, the data of 740 wells and 14 geological, meteorological, topographical, hydrological and environmental parameters were prepared and processed in the GIS platform to produce a potential map of underground water resources. By using the system performance curve (ROC) to verify the potential map of underground water resources estimated by analyzing the distribution of existing open wells, the value of AUC = 83.7% shows that the model has successfully predicted groundwater. Statistical analysis showed that 8.74% and 18.48% of the total area are under very good and good potential, 31.48% and 34.25% are in the medium and poor potential area, respectively, and 7.05% are in the area with very poor potential. The findings will help policy makers and managers in planning and sustainable management of groundwater resources.Indiscriminate exploitation of underground water resources is increasing, so the quantitative and qualitative decline of these resources is considered as one of the important indicators of land degradation and is one of the effective and useful solutions for the implementation of various watershed management projects.