HYDRO 2020 INTERNATIONAL National Institute of Technology Rourkela 25 th International Conference on Hydraulics, Odisha, India, December 16-18, 2020 Water Resources and Coastal Engineering An approach to delineate groundwater recharge potential sites in Rajgardh District, Madhya Pradesh using GIS techniques Ruchi Khare 1 , Indraneel Singh 2 1 Associate Professor, Civil, MANIT, Bhopal, India 462007 2 MTech Student, WRE, MANIT, Bhopal India 462007 Email: ruchif4@rediffmail.com Telephone/Mobile No.: +91 9425607454 Abstract The demand of fresh water is increasing rapidly in Rajgarh district due to urbanization and population growth. So in order to maintain continues supply of water and to meet the future requirements of water in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh , it is very necessary to maintain the long term sustainability, groundwater is very necessary . Different influential factors are considered which affects the groundwater recharge. These influential factors are rainfall, geomorphology, slope, land use land cover, soil, lineament, drainage density, and lithology of the area. In this study with the help of Arc GIS groundwater potential zone has been delineated and are classified in very low, low, medium and high potential zones. The influential factors are processed and integrated using the weighted overlay analysis in Arc GIS. Results of the study reveal high to moderate groundwater recharge potential is in approximately 27% area and 64% area is under moderate potential zone. Suitable techniques for Artificial Ground Water Recharge are suggested as per the existing sit requirements. Keywords: artificial recharge 1 ; water harvesting 2 ; weighted overlay analysis 3 1. Introduction Artificial recharge is the process whereby surface water is transferred underground and is stored in an aquifer. The artificial recharge to ground water aims at augmentation of ground water reservoir by modifying the natural movement of surface water by utilizing suitable civil construction techniques. It is a process in which the groundwater reservoir is recharged at a higher rate then recharge rate under natural conditions of replenishment. Arc GIS has proved its importance in the study of artificial recharge of groundwater. Groundwater recharge means the entry of water from the unsaturated zone into the saturated zone below the water table surface, and then together with the associated flow away from the water table within the saturated zone (Maduracci et al 2008). Recharge of groundwater occurs when water flows past the groundwater level and infiltrates into the saturated zone below ground level. It is an extremely important water component of the circulation cycle in nature. Various factors affect the occurrence and movement of groundwater in a region are topography, primary porosity, secondary porosity, lithology, geological structures, depth of weathering, slope, drainage patterns, landform, extent of fractures, land use/land cover, and climate (Mukherjee 1996; Nagarajan et al.2012). The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA 1987) in India was the first to integrate information from remote sensing and the technology of the geographical information system (GIS) for delineating the groundwater recharge potential zone. GIS is used to manage, utilize, and classify the results of remote sensing, to explore sites, to combine the factors of groundwater recharge potential, and to provide appropriate weight relationships (Radhakrishna et al. 2014; Senanayake et al. 2016; Sener et al. 2008) The choice of a particular method of groundwater recharge is governed by local topographical, geological and soil conditions, the quantity and quality of water available for recharge. Recharge of ground water can lead to the degradation of the aquifer unless quality control of the injected water is adequate. (Bhattacharya 2013). In this study GIS technique is applied to delineate potential artificial recharge zones in Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh. In present study Aster DEM is used to create slope map, drainage density map, rainfall map, lineament and lineament density map and Landsat-8 data is used to create land use/land cover, lithology, geomorphology and soil map. Then these thematic