2026-08-18T13:38:12Zhttps://riubu.ubu.es/oai/request

oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/117722026-06-02T00:05:30Zcom_10259_6168com_10259_5086com_10259_2604col_10259_6169

Tabassum, Anwaar 8f49c4e2-0ac8-411a-bec0-81d2dd30141f 600 Sajjad, Asif 0a5bfcf7-6bc0-494f-ada8-a246ba8ae1ca 600 Sajid, Ghayas Haider b0ff217b-7100-4315-a7c7-c69ac9b9aa00 600 Ahmad, Mahtab 4eba80c1-0a01-4186-8789-cee1c67f9d82 600 Iqbal, Mazhar 32fbecb4-7e60-4f8a-826d-dd70eb453ea2 600 Khan, Aqib Hassan Ali 830 600 0000-0002-2256-4742 2026-06-01T09:17:04Z 2026-06-01T09:17:04Z 2025-06 https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11772 10.3390/w17111586 2073-4441 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 The authors gratefully acknowledge the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for providing the data used in this study, accessed via http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ on 15 December 2024. We also express our sincere thanks to the University Research Fund (URF) of Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, for the partial financial support of this research application/pdf eng MDPI Water. 2025, V. 17, n. 11, 1586 https://doi.org/10.3390/w17111586 Atribución 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Groundwater potential zones (GWPZs) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) Hydrological remote sensing Water resource monitoring Sistemas de información geográfica Gestión del agua Geographic information systems Water resources development Assessing Recharge Zones for Groundwater Potential in Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan): A GIS-Based Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Water 17 11 1586 THUMBNAIL Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf.jpg Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf.jpg IM Thumbnail image/jpeg 4653 https://riubu.ubu.es/bitstream/10259/11772/4/Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf.jpg b5aeb4cc4b2acbb1b0a94ff8218d50b0 MD5 4 LICENSE license.txt license.txt text/plain; charset=utf-8 1362 https://riubu.ubu.es/bitstream/10259/11772/3/license.txt 5d013bfa6e473ff0db22cd82a4d71a70 MD5 3 CC-LICENSE license_rdf license_rdf application/rdf+xml; charset=utf-8 908 https://riubu.ubu.es/bitstream/10259/11772/2/license_rdf 0175ea4a2d4caec4bbcc37e300941108 MD5 2 ORIGINAL Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf application/pdf 4205962 https://riubu.ubu.es/bitstream/10259/11772/1/Tabassum-WATER_2025.pdf 2f9e5464a0573bb6f486b251c862607a MD5 1 10259/11772 oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/11772 2026-06-02 02:05:30.833 Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos bubrep@ubu.es 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