Identifying Groundwater Recharge Potential Zones in Barind Tract of Bangladesh Using Geospatial Technique

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CrossMark RESEARCH ARTICLE | APRIL 28 2023

Identifying groundwater recharge potential zones in barind tract of Bangladesh using geospatial technique

Md. Zahed Hossain; Sajal Kumar Adhikary

AIP Conference Proceedings 2713, 050001 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0129774

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Identifying Groundwater Recharge Potential Zones in Barind Tract of Bangladesh Using Geospatial Technique

Md. Zahed Hossain

^{1, a)}

and Sajal Kumar Adhikary

^{1, b)}

1 Department of Civil Engineering, Khulna University Engineering & Technology, Khulna-9203, Bangladesh

a) Corresponding author: [email protected]

b) [email protected]

Abstract: Bangladesh has been facing high scarcity of groundwater due to its uncontrolled development to meet the ever-increasing demand for irrigation, industrial and water supply purposes. Barind Tract is one of the major agro- economic zones located in the north-western region of Bangladesh. However, the area is characterized by serious water shortages and occurrence of droughts. The scarcity of water in surface water bodies causes high dependency on groundwater resources in the area for the most of its agricultural, industrial and municipal water supply activities. Such over-exploitation of groundwater resource results in the sharp declination of the overall water table because the groundwater recharge rate is not as fast as the extraction rate. In order to address such issues, it is necessary to develop a groundwater management framework for the Barind Tract area. This can be achieved through identification of potential recharge sites that is to be used for aquifer recharge for the sustainable development of groundwater resources. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to identify the groundwater recharge potential zones for the conservation of groundwater resources in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh. Geospatial technique such as the remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) is adopted in the current study for identifying the groundwater recharge potential zones in the Barind Tract. Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapai Nawabganj are taken as the case study area for demonstration. Thematic layers of seven groundwater recharge influencing factors including slope, drainage density, lineament density, land use/land cover, soil type, geology, and rainfall are established in the GIS environment. The interactive influence diagram for different influencing factors is developed based on the multi-influencing factors (MIF) approach, which is used to calculate the weight of effect for each individual factor. The weight is then assigned to each individual thematic layer and its categories depending on each layer’s importance to groundwater recharge potential. Finally, all the thematic layers are integrated to generate a groundwater recharge potential map using the weighting analysis in the ArcGIS platform. The groundwater recharge potential map is classified into four categories including poor, moderate, good and very good based on the combined score of all factors. It is found that 1505 km² exhibit poor recharge potential, 2290 km² have moderate recharge potential, 2682 km² have good recharge potential and 1071 km² exhibit a very good recharge potential of groundwater resources. The results also indicate that the most effective groundwater recharge potential zones are located in the areas of high lineament density, low drainage density, high rainfall distribution and gentle slope. Finally, it is found that only 24.4% of the total average annual rainfall (1480 mm) percolates into subsurface and ultimately contributes to recharge the groundwater resources. It is expected that the outcome of this study will be supportive to water managers and policy makers for the effective management of groundwater resources in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh.

INTRODUCTION

Globally, groundwater extraction has been increasing substantially due to its increased consumption by agricultural, industrial, and municipal activities caused by increased population and uncontrolled urbanization.

Current studies show that approximately 79% of water demand for livestock, household irrigation, and industrial usage are met by groundwater (BBS, 2017). Therefore, usable water management is a global challenge and a particularly major challenge for developing countries (Makki et al., 2021). Uncontrolled population growth and

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surface water (Michael & Voss, 2009). Furthermore, groundwater is unarguably a vital resource for food security for people all over the world. In the southern parts of Asia including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, etc. exhibit increased shortages of surface water supply, where the dependency on groundwater is very high for irrigation and fresh water requirements (Qureshi et al., 2014).

Bangladesh primarily depends on groundwater resource for irrigation, industrial and household water supplies.

Like other developing countries in the world, groundwater declination is a vital problem in Bangladesh. The declination rate is 0.1 to 0.5 m³/year in the country (Dey et al., 2017). Agriculture is one of the major groundwater users. In 2016-2017 total cropping area of Bangladesh was about 1.01 million acre (BBS, 2017). Rice, Potato, Jute, Maize are some of the most common crops that are cultivated in Bangladesh. In the 2016-2017 season, rice production was about 33.8 million metric-ton, which is the staple food in the country (BBS, 2017). In Bangladesh, three seasonal types of rice including Aus, Aman, and Boro are usually cultivated. Among them, Boro is irrigated during the dry period (January to June), which requires a large quantity of water and most of this amount are fulfilled by groundwater. Such increased requirement of groundwater during the dry season results in the continuous declination of the groundwater table. The problem of water shortages and groundwater declination is more critical in the Barind Tract (Adhikary et al., 2013), which is one of highest rice production areas located in the north-western region of Bangladesh. Moreover, the area is characterized by the occurrence of frequent droughts. These situations impose over-dependency on groundwater resources in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh. In order to address and counteract the aforementioned problems, it is necessary to develop a groundwater management framework. This requires developing a safe yield policy of groundwater resources based on a thorough understanding of recharge- discharge mechanism of aquifer. This can be achieved through identification of potential recharge zones to be used for aquifer recharge for the sustainable development of groundwater resources. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this study to identify the groundwater recharge potential zones in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh.

The groundwater recharge potential of an area depends on several influencing factors such as slope, stream order, drainage density, soil type, soil texture, soil depth, soil moisture, soil consistency, soil permeability, geology, tectonic fault locations, land use/land cover, rainfall, stream power index and the interdependency between these factors (Jha et al., 2010; Jha et al., 2007). In the past, analysis and generation of thematic layers of different groundwater recharge influencing factors through spatial analysis approach were very time consuming due to the absence of high speed computers and advanced software facilities. In the modern era, availability of the high speed computers and latest software facilities for geospatial analysis of water and environmental variables offers advantages over traditional methods with minimized cost and time. The two most widely used geospatial technique includes the remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) approach. RS technology has the advantages of covering large area, and mapping inaccessible area but consuming less time, cost and labor compared to traditional approaches. Moreover, it is now widely accepted as a very powerful scientific tool for groundwater monitoring and management (Jha et al., 2007). GIS is a very useful tool that has been extensively used for generating thematic maps of different meteorological and hydrogeological variables including slope, stream order, drainage density, soil type, soil texture, soil depth, soil moisture, soil consistency, soil permeability, tectonic fault locations, geology, land use land cover, rainfall, for finding potential zones for groundwater recharge. For this reason, GIS has been used by many researchers for groundwater potential zone identification (e.g., Ahmad et al., 2020; Ahmed et al., 2021; Andualem & Demeke, 2019). Therefore, the objective of the current study is to identify the groundwater recharge potential zones by using the RS and GIS based geospatial technique.

DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA

In the current study, Chapai Nawabganj, Naogaon and Rajshahi districts of the Barind Tract of Bangladesh are selected as the case study area. The location of the study area is shown in Figure 1, which covers an area of about 7586 km² in the northwest region of Bangladesh. Geographically, the area lies in between 24°07' and 25°13' north latitudes and in between 87°55' and 89°10' east longitudes. The study area is bounded by West Bengal on its three sides and some parts in the south and east side are surrounded by two major rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra. Annual average rainfall in the study area varies from 1380 mm to 1560 mm with a mean value of 1480 mm. Groundwater table touches the highest depth during the dry period (January to June), which ranges from 4 m to 15 m (Adhikary et al., 2013). The study area covers a major part of the Barind Irrigation Project where rice is the main cultivating crop that contributes a significant part of total agricultural production. Rice variants in the study area are Aus, Aman, Boro and other cultivated crops including jute, sugarcane, potato, wheat, vegetables. Among them, Boro is

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cultivated during the dry period (January to June), which requires large quantity of water that is mostly fulfilled by groundwater.

FIGURE 1. Location of the study area in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh.

METHODOLOGY

In the current study, geospatial technique such as the RS and GIS is adopted by processing and integrating RS and GIS data for the identification of groundwater recharge potential zones in the study area. The methodological flowchart adopted in this study is presented in Figure 2. The methodology starts with identifying and collecting data of the various influencing factors for groundwater recharge potential followed by generating thematic map layers of the influencing factors, calculating weight effect of each individual influencing factors based on the multi- influencing factors (MIF) approach, assigning weight effect to each individual thematic layer and its categories based on each layer importance to groundwater recharge potential, and finally integrating all thematic layers to prepare the groundwater recharge potential map.

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FIGURE 2. Methodological flowchart for groundwater recharge potential identification

Seven groundwater recharge influencing factors including slope, drainage density, lineament density, land use land cover (LULC), soil type, geology, and rainfall are considered in this study. Data are collected from different secondary sources including government agencies and remotely sensed open source databases. Data extraction and analysis, establishment of thematic layers of the aforementioned influencing factors are carried out in the GIS environment using ArcGIS software. For spatial data analysis and preparation of the thematic map layers of different influencing factors, inverse distance weighting (IDW) technique is used. The multi-influencing factors (MIF) approach has been widely used by many researchers in mapping and identifying groundwater recharge potential zones (e.g., Ahmed et al., 2021; Selvam et al., 2015; Yeh et al., 2008; Shaban et al., 2006;). In the current study, the interactive influence diagram for different influencing factors is established based on the MIF approach, which is shown in Figure 3.

FIGURE 3. Interactive influence diagram of the groundwater recharge influencing factors

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The interactive influence diagram as shown in Fig. 3 indicates the interrelationship between the seven groundwater recharge potential influencing factors considered in this study. The extent of influence of every factor on groundwater recharge potential is assessed based on the interrelationships (referred to as the major and minor in the current study) among the factors. Each relationship between the influencing factors is weighted according to its strength. A score of 1.0 is assigned to a major effect or strong relationship, whereas a score of 0.5 is used to a minor effect or weak relationship. The representative weight of a factor of the groundwater recharge potential is the sum of all weights from each factor. A factor with a higher weight values indicates a larger impact on groundwater recharge. The calculated weight of effect for each influencing factors using MIF approach is given in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Weight Calculation for groundwater recharge potential factors

Factors Relative score Proposed weight of effect

Rainfall 1.5 9

Slope 2.5 16

Geology 4.0 25

Drainage Density 1.5 9

LULC 3.5 22

Lineament Density 2.0 13

Soil Type 1.0 6

Total = 16 100

The weight of effect as presented in Table 1 is then assigned to each thematic map layer for individual influencing factor and its categories depending on each layer’s importance to groundwater recharge potential.

Finally, all the thematic layers are overlaid with one another and integrated to generate a groundwater recharge potential map based on the weighting analysis in the GIS environment using ArcGIS software. The groundwater recharge potential map obtained in this way is then classified into four categories to delineate the recharge potential zones based on the combined score of all influencing factors.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Influencing Factors

In the current study, various hydrological, geological, and geographical attributes of the Barind Tract area of Bangladesh are analyzed for the identification of groundwater recharge potential zones. Based on the analysis, seven major factors influencing groundwater recharge potential, namely rainfall, geology, slope, drainage density, land use/land cover, lineament density, and soil type have been identified. Each factor is examined and assigned an appropriate weight of effect that is calculated and presented in Table 1. It is worth mentioning that the upper threshold of the proposed weight score of each recharge potential influencing factor is set to be the score of the corresponding recharge potential factor. Table 2 shows the distribution of scores for the individual feature class of each recharge potential influencing factor. The spatial analysis of the influencing factors is detailed below.

Rainfall

Rainfall is an important factor for the derivation of groundwater recharge potential zones. It indicates the availability of water to be recharged. It has a proportional relationship with the recharge potential implying that high rainfall can cause high recharge potential for groundwater (Jahan et al., 2019). Rainfall data are collected from Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) for a period of 2009-2019 and spatial analysis are carried out using IDW technique to obtain the thematic layer for rainfall. The thematic layer is then classified into five classes and assigned with the weight, which is presented in Table 2. The spatial distribution map of rainfall of the study area is shown in Figure 4a.

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Geology

The geological map of the study area is collected from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), which is processed using the geospatial tools in GIS environment using ArcGIS software. The geological features found in this study area are lake (31 km2), sedimentation (7192 km2), water (80 km2), and ultrabasic igneous rock (257.74 km2). Table 2 shows the distribution of weight assigned to each feature class. Geological map of the study area is presented in Figure 4b.

Slope

Slope is also an important factor influencing the groundwater recharge potential of an area. This shows an inverse relationship with groundwater recharge potential. High slope indicates their speed of stormwater or rainwater are heavy and consequently, rainwater get very less time for infiltration and vice-versa (Hammouri et al., 2012). Spatial slope map of the study area is derived using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) data that is available in 30m resolution. Weight distribution to each feature class is given in Table 2 and spatial slope map of the study area is presented in Figure 4c.

Drainage Density

The drainage density map is established by analyzing the DEM data in the GIS environment. The range of drainage density in this study area ranges from 0.05 to 2.50. It indicates how close the storm drainage channels are located. It has an inverse relationship with the groundwater recharge potential. High drainage density refers to less time for percolation and infiltration (Andualem & Demeke, 2019). Figure 4d shows the drainage density map of the study area.

TABLE 2. Assigned weight with different feature classes of various influencing factors Factors Feature class Weight

effect

Total

score Factors Feature class Weight effect

Total score Rainfall

(mm)

1800 - 2200 9 9 LULC Water 22 22

1650 - 1800 7 Agriculture 16

1550 - 1650 5 Forest 16

1400 - 1550 3 Bareland 10

1200 - 1400 1 Urban 4

Slope (%) 0 - 1 16 16 Lineament

Density (km/km²)

1.85 – 3.00 13 13

1 - 2 13 1.20 – 1.85 10

2 – 3 10 0.65 – 1.20 7

3 – 6 7 0.25 – 0.65 4

6 – 40 4 0 – 0.25 1

Geology Water 25 25 Soil Type Noncalcar. Floodplain 6 6

Lake 25 Deep Terrace Soils 6

Sedimentation 15 Calcar. Floodplain 6

Ultrabasic rock 10 Calcar. Alluvium 4

Drainage Density (km/km²)

0.05 – 0.75 9 9 Noncalcar. Alluvium 4

0.75 – 1.05 7 Shallow Terrace Soil 3

1.05 – 1.25 5 Urban 1

1.25 – 1.50 3 Acid Basin Clay 1

1.50 – 2.50 1

Land Use Land Cover

The land use land cover (LULC) map is derived from the Landsat-8 satellite image, which is collected from United States Geological Survey (USGS) earth explorer in 30m resolution. The supervised classification tool is used to obtain the land use/land cover map from the satellite image. Different type of land uses is identified in the derived

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map, which cause different degrees of groundwater recharge potential. Vegetation and forest areas are high susceptible to groundwater recharge potential. Vegetation reduces the velocity of surface runoff, which results in having more time for percolation and infiltration, and hence higher recharge potential. On the other hand, developed areas like urban and paved areas result in lower groundwater recharge potential (Shaban et al., 2006). Land use/land cover map of the study area is shown in Figure 4e.

Lineament Density

Lineament density map of the study area is established using the DEM data in the GIS environment. It indicates the underlying geological aspects of an area, which is also a very important factor influencing the groundwater recharge potential. It shows a proportional behavior with the groundwater recharge. The lineament density map is classified into five categories using the ArcGIS software. Lineament density implies that it may be worked as a flow path for groundwater to be recharged. Spatial map for the lineament density of the study area is shown in Figure 4f.

Soil Type

Soil type data and information of the study area is collected from BARC soil database, which is then used to establish the soil map. It is widely accepted that different types of soil act differently on groundwater recharge. For example, clay soil is less permeability and hence cause higher surface runoff as less water can pass through the clay soil. In contrast, sandy soil has a higher permeability (Thapa et al., 2018) and results in higher rate of recharge.

Types of soil present in this study area are Acid Basin Clay, Calcareous Alluvium, Noncalcareous Alluvium, Calcareous Floodplain, Deep Terrace Soils, Noncalcareous Floodplain, Shallow Terrace Soil, Urban. Clayey-type soil is given a lower weightage and floodplain soils is given a higher weightage. Figure 4g shows the soil type map of the study area.

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FIGURE 4. Thematic maps of the study area with proposed weight of effect for (a) rainfall, (b) geology, (c) slope, (d) drainage density, (e) land use/land cover, (f) lineament density, and (g) soil type

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Delineation of Groundwater Recharge Potential Zones

In order to delineate the groundwater recharge potential zones, all the aforementioned thematic map layers are overlaid with one another using the weighted overlay analysis in the ArcGIS platform and combined to produce an integrated groundwater recharge potential map, which is shown in Figure 5. The obtained groundwater recharge potential map is classified into four zones based on the combined score of all influencing factors. They are referred to as poor, moderate, good, and very good zones for groundwater recharge potential occupying areas of 1505 km² (20%), 2290 km² (30%), 2682 km² (36%) and 1071 km² (14%), respectively.

FIGURE 5. Potential groundwater zone map of the study area.

Accordingly, the recharge potential categories and their qualitative estimation in the study area are presented in Table 3. A quantitative estimation of recharge water volume into the subsurface media in recharge potential zones of the study area is carried out for respective recharge potential zones as precipitated volume x recharge ratio x percent (%) of total area, where precipitated volume is 11227 x 10⁶ m³/year. Thus, recharge water volume into the subsurface media is, W = 11227 x 10⁶ (0.475 x 0.14 + 0.325 x 0.36 + 0.15 x 0.30 + 0.075 x 0.20 + 0.025 x 0) = 2734 x 10⁶ m³/year (which is equal to 24.4% of the precipitated volume). This result implies that approximately 24.4% of the total precipitated water in the study area is percolating downward to recharge the groundwater reserves and the rest is lost either in the form of evapotranspiration or surface runoff.

TABLE 3. Ground water recharge potential categories and their quantitative estimation Recharge

potential category

FAO (1967) Study Current Study

Estimates (%)

Average (%)

Areal Extent (km²)

Areal Extent (%)

Name of Zones

Very good 45-50 47.5 1071 14% Zone-4

Good 30-35 32.5 2682 36% Zone-3

Moderate 10-20 15.0 2290 30% Zone-2

Poor 5-10 7.5 1505 20% Zone-1

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As can be seen from Table 3, about 1505 km² of the study area falls in the Zone-1 potential zone, which covers nearly 20% of the total study area. Zone-1 is identified as the “poor groundwater recharge potential zone” in the current study. Major portion of this zone in on the upstream of the study area and some having highly urbanized area. This demonstrates that there is a high scarcity of groundwater in this zone. This also indicates that urbanization results in reduction in the groundwater recharge potentiality in this zone. This emphasis that appropriate recharge planning and water development policy should be adopted for the sustainable development. The table also shows that Zone-2 covers about 2290 km² of the study area, which is referred to as the “moderate groundwater potential zone” in this study. It is nearly 30% of the total study area. Areas of this zone are located nearly below the “poor recharge potential zone” and adjacent to the “good recharge potential zone”. Moreover, most areas of this zone cover the mid-range rainfall intensity area. This indicates a fairly good recharge potential for groundwater and hence relatively less scarcity of groundwater compared to Zone-1.

It is also seen from the table that about 2682 km² of the study area are covered by Zone-3, which is identified as the “good groundwater recharge potential zone” in this study. This zone offers a better recharge potential for groundwater, which covers about 36% of the total study area. The zone is located near to the river and natural water bodies and most areas of this zone is located in the middle and lower part of the study area. Flood plain soil are on the dominant factor in this zone. Furthermore, urbanization in this zone is found lower compared to the Zone-1 and Zone-2. In the current study, the “very good groundwater recharge potential zone” is defined by the Zone-4, which covers about 1071 km² of the study area. This zone offers the best recharge potential for groundwater, which consists of 14% of the total study area. It covers most of the river and lake area. It also in the low slope area. Since most part of this zone is located close to the river and water bodies, water is available throughout the year to cause recharge. A major part of this zone condensed in the region of estuary of the Padma River that forms a boundary of the study area. It is also found from the results that the most effective groundwater recharge potential zones are located in the areas of high lineament density, low drainage density, high rainfall distribution and gentle slope.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study presents a framework for qualitative assessment of groundwater recharge potential in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh with the help of geospatial technique. An integrated groundwater recharge potential map is prepared and categorized based on the weighted overlay analysis using seven groundwater recharge influencing factors, namely rainfall, geology, slope, drainage density, land use land cover, lineament density, and soil type.

Based on the results obtained in the current study, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• Four groundwater recharge potential zones have been identified in the study area. About 20% (1505 km²) area exhibit poor recharge potential, about 30% (2290 km²) are have moderate recharge potential, about 36% (2682 km²) are have good recharge potential and about 14% (1071 km²) are exhibit a very good recharge potential of groundwater.

• It is found that the most effective groundwater recharge potential zones are located in the areas of high lineament density, low drainage density, high rainfall distribution and gentle slope.

• Approximately 24.4% of the total precipitated water in the study area is infiltrating downward to recharge the groundwater resources and the rest is lost either in the form of evapotranspiration or surface runoff.

• The recharge potential categories and their qualitative estimation gives first-hand information on groundwater recharge potential that is vital for planning and management of groundwater resources.

• Finally, it can be concluded that the outcome of this study is expected to be helpful to the water managers and policy makers for the effective management and sustainable development of groundwater resources in the Barind Tract of Bangladesh.

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