Site Selection for Groundwater Artificial Recharge in Silakhor Rangelands Using GIS Technique

Groundwater is among the most important resources of drinking water supply ofthe worldwide population. Use of recharge area is one of the methods for artificiallyrecharging groundwater. Selection of suitable sites for artificial recharge is very importantand must be carried out accurately. There are different types of land use, only rangelandsare appropriate for artificial recharge because of their topographical situations. In thisstudy, the groundwater artificial recharge suitable area of Silakhor, Borujerd of Iranrangelands was investigated and extracted using Geographic Information System (GIS) andAnalytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The layer information of rainfall, soil,lithology, slope, land use and fault components were prepared and weighed by applyingAHP method and were used for artificial recharge site selection. Aquifer artificial rechargemaps showed that in Silakhor catchment 14%, 64.8% and 21.2% of the area of thecatchment had high, moderate and low capability for artificial recharge, respectively. Themost suitable areas were located in the low land areas.