Geospatial and Analytical Hierarchical Process approach for potential sites of water harvesting in lower Kulsi basin, India

Abstract Water crisis issues are common in rural and urban areas, which can be tackled honestly by planning and managing existing water resources. The site suitability map is the principal footstep of planning practice for a region’s sustainable surface and groundwater resource development. The paper aims to delineate and suggest suitable sites for water harvesting for sustainable water resource development by taking the lower Kulsi watershed as a study area. Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques are used in the multi-criteria decision-making process to identify a suitability map of water harvesting structures like percolation tanks, check dams, and surface farm ponds on the basin of the specific key factor of each design. About one hundred ninety-six sites are detected from the most suitable category of suitability based on particular criteria and suggestions for sustainable water conservation in the study area.