Investigation of Groundwater Potential Using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) Techniques in Fakai Local Government of Kebbi State, Nigeria

Groundwater is one of the most precious natural resource which supports human health, economic development and ecological diversity. Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) Techniques have been effectively used for the investigation of the potentiality of groundwater resource in Fakai local government area. The dataset for this research work are Landsat 8 Operational land imager (OLI), ASTER DEM, Topographical map and Geological map from which the essential criteria were obtained. The study used Weighted Linear Combination approach which involves mathematical weighing and ranking of the criteria. Multi-criteria evaluation was carried out on all the criteria using the Weighted Linear Combination approach in ArcGIS 10.4. Spatial analysis was carried out on the derived result using the Suitability Index (SI) value created from pairwise comparison analysis. The suitability map for groundwater recharge in the study area was hence produced using the suitability index. The result shows four classes for the study area. The classes include highly suitable, moderately suitable, less suitable and least suitable. Thus, the area most suitable for groundwater are found most towards the northern part, around the center and some regions in the northern part of the study area this serves as an indicator that most of the study area has good potential for groundwater recharge.