ORIGINAL PAPER Development of recharge and conservation site suitability model for groundwater retrieval and evaluation of artificial recharge potential in a complex hydro-geological spring-fed river basin Meenu Rani 1 & Himanshu Joshi 1 & Kireet Kumar 1 & Anita Pande 2 & Diwan Singh Rawat 1 Received: 4 July 2018 /Accepted: 4 September 2019 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2019 Abstract In view of complex hydro-geological system and continuous groundwater depletion in mountainous region, there is an urgent need for replenishment groundwater sources in order to secure their long-term sustainability. The current study was aimed to develop a model that will efficiently suggest suitable sites in spring-fed Kosi watershed of Kumaun Himalayas for recharging groundwater. Factors affecting groundwater recharge were found to play a much more complex role in mountainous regions compared to plains due to diversified geological formations, lithological and chronological variations, and complex tectonic framework. In this study, behaviour of influencing factor in complex topographical region has been quantified independently as well as interdependently for identification of cumulative impact of these hydro-geological factors in recharging groundwater. A standard methodology was further developed to identify potential recharge sites by assigning intra-layer weightage and inter- layer score by quantifying the influence of each and every component influencing potential for groundwater recharge using integrated remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) technique. Study conducted in Bhatgaon micro- catchment of Kosi basin revealed that 24.1% area fall under the category having good to moderate recharge potential while 61.9% area have poor to moderate recharge potential, hence found less suitable for implementation of artificial recharge structures for conservation of groundwater. A GIS-based recharge and conservation site suitability (RCSS) model was developed with unique query-based codes that would guide for suitable sites in order to implement apposite groundwater augmentation measures for sustentation of Bhatgaon micro-catchment of Kosi basin. Furthermore, this kind of study is very helpful for groundwater managers to found best suitable site for implementing groundwater augmentation measures for long-term sustain- ability of natural groundwater sources in hilly terrain. Keywords Mountain aquifer . Recharge potential . Hydro-geological factors . Groundwater sustainability Introduction Himalaya is said to be storehouse of water with numerous rivers, springs, and glaciers. Springs and the other groundwa- ter systems play a pivotal role in meeting water demand of a large human and animal population through their chains of spring-fed rivers and streams in the major portion of Kumaun region of Middle Himalayas. But instead of having substantial amount of annual rainfall in the Kumaun region, the groundwater sources of the region are wailing for suste- nance. Groundwater depletion is an emerging problem and is reported in many parts of Kumaun Himalaya (Kar et al. 2009). The reason documented for depleting groundwater is temporal and spatial variability in rainfall, forest degradation, and changing land use pattern (Negi et al. 2012; Tiwari and Joshi 2012). The level of management can be visualized as there is plenty of water in monsoon and people cry for drop of water in summer. Thousands of springs having plenty of water used for hundreds of years are now widely reported under stress due to climate change, high water demand with increas- ing population, and anthropogenic activities (Rawat 2014; NITI Aayog 2018). Another reason of drying of water Responsible Editor: Abdullah M. Al-Amri * Meenu Rani meenurani06@gmail.com 1 G B Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD), Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand 263643, India 2 Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand 263002, India Arabian Journal of Geosciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-019-4784-3