Obtaining of the Maps of Groundwater Level by Using GIS: The Example of Sivas City

Abstract

Groundwater sources are gradually decreasing together with the increase of the population each passing day. The management and planning of the groundwater sources in an effective way are required to be able to avoid this problem. GIS is an important tool in the management of groundwater in an effective way today. Groundwater level measurements in a specific time interval can be entered into the GIS environment as the attribute data and can be obtained thematic maps indicating the groundwater level changes in these time intervals. The obtained thematic maps constitute an important data source in the planning and management of the groundwater. It is aimed to be constituted the maps of groundwater level (GWL) of water basin from which the potable and domestic water needs of Sivas city are supplied in this study. Static water level values (SW) which belong to the deep wells in the basin were measured throughout 4 years (in dry and rainy periods) within the scope of the study. GWL elevation was obtained for each well by using elevation and static water level values of wells. The information of coordinate, SW values and GWL elevation values were turned into a database which can be analyzed and evaluated entering the Geographical Information System (GIS). SW map and GWL maps which belong to the field of study were constituted with the help of ArcGIS 9.3.1. Program by using this obtained database.

Key words: Groundwater maps, geographic information systems, static level.