Demarcation of Groundwater Prospective Zones in a Degraded Region of Western Ghats:A GIS Based Approach

Attappady region in the Palghat district of Kerala is one of the severely degraded areas in the Kerala Western Ghats. Apart from the severe ecological, socio-economic, political and cultural problems, the region faces an acute water scarcity too. By identifying the severe ecological degradation and the consequent sociological problems, a watershed based massive ecorestoration project has been initiated in Attappady by the State government. The present study carried out in this area deals with the identification of groundwater potential zones. The groundwater potential zones of Attappady area generated from this study identifies five zones- very high, high, moderate, low and very low. The groundwater potential map generated in this study by making use of GIS tools will be useful in narrowing down the target areas for ground resistivity surveys in order to pinpoint the prospective well site. The results of this study can be used in the ongoing ecorestoration project at Attappady.