Groundwater Recharge Potential Using GIS around the Land Development Facilities of Chulalongkorn University at Kaeng Khoi District, Saraburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

Kaeng Khoi District (Saraburi Province, Thailand) suffers from a surface water shortage due to increasing demand from domestic use and crop production, particularly in the drought season. Groundwater resources are an additional source of freshwater in this area, especially for agricultural purposes, but to be sustainable its usage should not exceed long-term groundwater recharge. Evaluation of the groundwater recharge potential is therefore essential to determine the sustain-able use level for groundwater resources. This study aimed to determine the groundwater recharge potential using the geographic information system (GIS) around the Land Development Facilities of Chulalongkorn University at Kaeng Khoi District, Thailand. The hydrologic and geologic features affecting groundwater recharge potential into the groundwater system are the lineaments, drainage density, lithology and land cover/land use. The weighting of these factors were derived from integration of the interrelationship of the major and minor effects of each contributing factor. Then GIS overlay was used to determine the influence of the hydrologic and geologic effects on total groundwater recharge potentiality, classified into five categories: very high, high, moderate, low and very low. The highest recharge potential zone was located in the downstream areas. The map generated revealed that about 50 % of the study area had a medium groundwater recharge potential, mainly located in the eastern upstream part and the central area.