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Amidst the global groundwater crisis and compounded stresses of climate change, the groundwater potential (GWP) assessment for tackling the depletion of aquifers is imperative for developing countries like India for their sustainable development of groundwater resources. This study explores the GWP in the Imphal valley of Manipur state of northeastern part of India, where population growth, rapid urbanization and escalating agricultural demands have strained aquifer systems. The GWP mapping has been carried out by integrating ten thematic layers-land use/land cover, lithology, soil, lineament density, geomorphology, slope, curvature, surface roughness, drainage density and rainfall-using the Analytical Hierarchy Process within a GIS framework. We also performed sensitivity analysis, which indicates that no single parameter independently governs the GWP. The resulting map delineates five GWP zones: very poor, poor, moderate, good, and very good. Approximately 43% of the Imphal valley falls within the good to very good category, while 27% lies within poor to very poor zones. Spatial analysis reveals that the southern, southeastern, and southwestern sectors exhibit higher GWP due to fluvio-lacustrine deposits, gentle slopes, favourable geomorphology and higher rainfall, whereas the northern and northeastern foothill regions display poor potential attributed to steep gradients, dissected terrain, low rainfall, and low-permeability lithologies. District-level assessment indicates Bishnupur as having the highest GWP, while Imphal East records the lowest.
Devi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.