Assessment of Groundwater Potential Based on Multicriteria Decision Making Model and Decision Tree Algorithms

Groundwater plays an important role in global climate change and satisfying human needs. In the study, RS (remote sensing) and GIS (geographic information system) were utilized to generate five thematic layers, lithology, lineament density, topology, slope, and river density considered as factors influencing the groundwater potential. Then, the multicriteria decision model (MCDM) was integrated with C5.0 and CART, respectively, to generate the decision tree with 80 surveyed tube wells divided into four classes on the basis of the yield. To test the precision of the decision tree algorithms, the 10-fold cross validation and kappa coefficient were adopted and the average kappa coefficient for C5.0 and CART was 90.45% and 85.09%, respectively. After applying the decision tree to the whole study area, four classes of groundwater potential zones were demarcated. According to the classification result, the four grades of groundwater potential zones, “very good,” “good,” “moderate,” and “poor,” occupy 4.61%, 8.58%, 26.59%, and 60.23%, respectively, with C5.0 algorithm, while occupying the percentages of 4.68%, 10.09%, 26.10%, and 59.13%, respectively, with CART algorithm. Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that C5.0 algorithm is more appropriate than CART for the groundwater potential zone prediction.