Site Selection of Basins for Artificial Recharge of Groundwater in Boushkan Catchment based on Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP)

Artificial recharge is the well known method for controlling the degradation of groundwater quality and quantity. The artificial recharge is substantially dependent on the identification of a suitable recharge location which plays the main role in the success of the project. In this research, quantity of precipitation, land slope, surface infiltration, geology, hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer, depth of water table, transmissivity and land use information were used to find the most appropriate location for artificial recharge and the weight of each layer was determined based on the importance of its role in surface water infiltration into aquifer. The AHP technique was used to identify the most appropriate weight for various parameters in site selection for artificial recharge. Results showed that 1.4% of the studied area was very suitable for artificial recharge, while 10.39% and 13.33% were suitable and to some extent suitable, respectively, and 75.14% was unsuitable for artificial recharge. In eight different locations which were classified in suitable group, four locations had suitable situation regarding to the drainage system and roads. Regarding the accordance of these four alluvium sites with the resulted maps by Ground Water Model in GMS environment, three suitable sites were selected for the long-term and one site was proposed for the short- term recharge programs in the Boushkan region. In this watershed, the artificial recharge in alluvial deposits was much more suitable than that in karst environment.