Modeling and Evaluation of Ömerli Basin (Mardin, Southeastern Türkiye) Groundwater Potential using the GIS-Based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach

Abstract

Water, which is an indispensable element of human life, is a basic need for other living things and nature. Groundwater, which is the world's freshwater resource, has low cost usage opportunities because it is generally of good quality and does not need to be treated. Accordingly, in recent years, there has been an excessive increase in the use of groundwater due to the low rainfall and limited surface waters. Therefore, it has become important to know the hydraulic properties of the aquifer in the evaluation techniques of groundwater resources. It is important that the methods used in the evaluation are suitable for the structure of the aquifer in order to obtain healthy results. In support of these explanations, the AHP technique, one of the GIS supported MCDM methods, was used in order to reveal the underground water potential of the Mardin province Omerli district basin. Raster maps were first created in the GIS program ArcGis ArcMap environment, and then reclassified maps were produced. These data regarding the press study were obtained from official institutions and private drilling companies dealing with groundwater. In the first stage of the study, data related to groundwater potential such as static water level, dynamic water level, well yield, depth and residual were modeled. In the second stage, these data are weighted in AHP and then the result map; It was created and interpreted with very bad, bad, moderate, good and very good values. In the third and last stage, the results and recommendations are discussed.