Frequency ratio model for groundwater potential mapping and its sustainable management in cold desert, India

Abstract Groundwater potential mapping and its sustainable development are an important aspect in Leh valley due to an increase of tourists and the local population. In the present study, the groundwater potential zones were delineated by adopting a frequency ratio (FR) model. Land use and land cover, hydro geomorphology, slope, geology, lineament density, drainage density, spring well locations and ground water level were the thematic factors considered for groundwater potential zone mapping. There are 86 spring wells located in the study area, of which 60 wells were considered for success rate and remaining 26 wells considered for prediction rate in the FR model. The final groundwater potential map was classified into five zones as very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. The success and prediction rates of FR model were measured as 81.25% and 77.23% respectively. Water budget of the valley was also calculated on the basis of consumption, demand and supply of water by taking account of the floating population. There is a huge demand of water supply requirement during the tourist season from May to September months and deficiency of water in the area was calculated as 4,224,557 (in l). Finally, suitable sites for artificial recharge for sustainable groundwater management were identified. The sites were selected on the basis of depth of groundwater level, source of spring well locations and gradient from natural spring to selected recharge wells.