Appraising the Accuracy of Multi-Class Frequency Ratio and Weights of Evidence Method for Delineation of Regional Groundwater Potential Zones in Canal Command System

Abstract

A comparative study of probabilistic frequency ratio (FR) and weights of evidence (WofE) method is performed for delineation of regional groundwater potential zones (GPZ) in canal command system. In the present case study, delineation of GPZ in the Hirakud agricultural command area of Odisha, India. Field discharge data from borewells are utilized for the analysis along with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. Various influencing attributes responsible for occurrence and movement of groundwater, e.g., land use / land cover, soil type, groundwater depth, geology, elevation, geomorphology, slope, recharge rate, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, crop intensity are integrated by using GIS platform. Model results from FR and WofE show similar trends. The middle portion of the study area covers the ‘Good’ GPZ. Sensitivity analyses are performed for FR and WofE methods.