Groundwater constitutes the primary source of liquid freshwater on Earth and is
essential for ecosystems, agriculture, and human consumption. However, rising demand,
urbanization, and climate change have intensified groundwater depletion, particularly
in semi-arid regions. Therefore, assessing groundwater recharge zones is essential for
sustainable water resource management in vulnerable areas such as Dera Ismail Khan,
Pakistan. This study aims to delineate groundwater potential zones (GWPZs), using an
integrated approach combining the Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing
(RS), and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Twelve factors were identified in a
study conducted using GIS-based AHP to determine the groundwater recharge zones
in the region. These include land use/land cover (LULC), rainfall, drainage density,
soil type, slope, road density, water table depth, and remote sensing indices such as
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index
(NDBI), Moisture Stress Index (MSI), Worldview Water Index (WVWI), and Land Surface
Temperature (LST). The results show that 17.52% and 2.03% of the area have “good” and
“very good” potential for groundwater recharge, respectively, while 48.63% of the area
has “moderate” potential. Furthermore, gentle slopes (0–2.471◦
), high drainage density,
shallow water depths (20–94 m), and densely vegetated areas (with a high NDVI) are
considered important influencing factors for groundwater recharge. Conversely, areas with
steep slopes, high temperatures, and dense built-up areas showed “poor” potential for
recharge. This approach demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating advanced remote
sensing indices with the AHP model in a semi-arid context, validated through high-accuracy
field data (Kappa = 0.93). This methodology offers a cost-effective decision support tool for
sustainable groundwater planning in similar environments
