Analysis of potential water recharge areas using spatial multi-criteria evaluation in Denpasar City, Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

Occupied by a fairly large population, Denpasar City (Bali Province, Indonesia) is experiencing landuse change into residential areas. A reduction in the water recharge area has been recognized as one of the consequences. The purpose of this study was to determine the condition and distribution of water recharge zones in the city. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to overlay maps of soil type, rainfall, slope, and landuse as the input to Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE). The research output is a map of potential recharge zones in Denpasar City. Results showed six criteria for their conditions: good, normal/natural, slightly degraded or at the early stage of degradation, moderately degraded, degraded, and severely degraded. The majority of the potential water recharge areas were moderately degraded (covering an area of 7860.87 ha), degraded (2049.19 ha), degraded (1653.21 ha), severely degraded (292.45 ha), good (280.29 ha), and normal/natural (205.96 ha).