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Abstract

Groundwater is the main source of water supply in Afghanistan, especially in areas where access to surface water is difficult. Nangarhar Province has significant surface-water and groundwater resources and depends extensively on these resources for domestic and agricultural use, including orange orchards, vegetable cultivation, and sugarcane production. Therefore, detecting areas with suitable groundwater potential is essential for sustainable groundwater-resource management (SGRM) and well siting. The present study aimed to identify groundwater potential zones (GPZs) in Nangarhar Province using remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS), and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The study was applied in terms of purpose and employed a quantitative, analytical, and spatial methodology. Seven layers, including precipitation, slope, lithology, soil type, drainage density (DD), lineament density (LD), and land use/land cover (LULC), were analyzed in ArcGIS 10.8. The criteria were weighted through multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the AHP model and the weighted-overlay method. The results showed that the central, southern, and southeastern parts of the study area predominantly fell within the high- and very-high-potential classes, whereas the northern and northeastern parts were mainly characterized by low to moderate potential. Validation using 20 observation wells showed 80% agreement between the groundwater-potential map and the observed well locations. Simultaneously, sensitivity analysis indicated that limited changes in the criterion weights did not significantly affect the overall spatial pattern of the groundwater-potential map. The findings can support sustainable groundwater-resource management, well siting, agricultural planning, and improved groundwater development and management in the study area, especially in areas exposed to increasing water demand and future needs.

Keywords

AHP Groundwater Groundwater Potential Nangarhar RS and GIS

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Hashimi, S. M. T., Safi, L., Rafiq Mangal, M., & Hamid Haqmal, M. (2026). Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones in Nangarhar Province, Using RS, GIS, and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Journal of Natural Sciences – Kabul University, 9(2), 45–81. https://doi.org/10.62810/jns.v9i2.581
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