Groundwater is unevenly distributed and limited in hard rock terrains. The study has been carried out using remote sensing and GIS to delineate the potential recharge zones of ground-water in upper Betwa watershed, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, India. The different thematic layers viz; geology, lineament density, soil, slope, land use/land cover (LU/LC) and drainage density were prepared for assessment of groundwater recharge potential in the area. District Resource Map (DRM) of Geological Survey of India (GSI) 2002 has been used for geological study. SRTM Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used to obtain the slope. LANDSAT-8 OLI data has been processed for lineament density and LU/LC analysis. Survey of India toposheets were used for drainage density analyses and National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning Nagpur (NBSS&LUP) map used for soil study. Weightage has been given to parameters in thematic maps as per the relative influence of each parameter in the groundwater recharge. Rating to each class of parameters was given as per there relative significance in groundwater recharge. Finally, groundwater recharge potential map has been prepared by overlaying all thematic maps in terms of the weighted index overlay (WIO) method. The output map has been further classified into three zones (i) low ground-water potential zone (121.80 km2) (ii) moderate groundwater potential zone (387.78 km2) and (iii) high groundwater potential zone (173.35 km2). The output results were validated by plotting the specific yield data and groundwater level of selected wells in delineated groundwater recharge potential zones using GPS locations. It has been seen that most of the groundwater productive wells functioning in the area is falling in high and moderate groundwater recharge potential zone.

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GIS-based prioritization of sub-watersheds of Hoshangabad and Budhni industrial area, Madhya Pradesh, India were carried out to describe the importance of morphometric parameters in the field of water and soil conservation. In the study, four subwatersheds were prioritized through geomorphologic analysis for soil and water conservation. Topographic maps 55 F/9, 55 F/10 and 55 F/13 on scale 1:50,000 were used to evaluate the drainage characteristics of watershed. SRTM DEM data has been processed for slope analysis and delineation of sub-watersheds. LISS-III, IRS data was processed for land use/ land cover analysis. Soil map has been generated by processing of NBSS & LUP soil map. The various morphometric parameters evaluated in each sub-watershed includes drainage network, drainage geometry and texture analysis and relief parameters in ArcGIS. Each sub-watershed has been prioritized by assigning ranks using compound parameter. After prioritization, land use, soil type and slope classes of each subwatershed were integrated to propose suitable soil and water conservation structures at appropriate places. It has been suggested that the proposed soil and water conservation structures must be executed on priority basis to reduce the adverse effect on the land and environment. The study shows that classification and prioritization of sub-watersheds are very relevant, supportive and useful in the watershed, where there is high diversity in agricultural practices, soil texture and land cover. Thus, priority wise execution of the proposed soil and water conservation structures will not only reduce the soil erosion but also increase the surface and groundwater availability in the area. Therefore, prioritization of these sub-watersheds is found very helpful for soil conservation and management of groundwater in the watershed.