Technical Note: Locating suitable areas for flood spreading system, using AHP method and GIS technique, case study: Naeim-Abad region, Fars Province

Flood spreading is an effective way to increase the groundwater level, rectify the critical conditions of groundwater, and prevent flooding at Naeim-Abad, Fars Province. The most important step in the successful implementation of artificial recharge is the selection of recharge areas in the studied region. In this research, the GIS technique and Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method have been used. We considered nine factors–land, slope, and distance from the road, altitude, thickness of the alluvium, distance from the stream, surface permeability, land use, and fault for analysis in this research. Each layer was prioritized using the AHP method and the different layers were integrated. Expert Choice software was used to prioritize nine considered factors. The results showed that 3.6% of the Naeim-Abad area was suitable for flood spreading based on the AHP method and GIS technique. In this research, hydrologic factors with a weight of 0.687 had the most impact among the main criteria for locating areas prone to flood spreading. Among the sub-criteria of this criterion, surface permeability with a weight of 0.558 had the greatest influence. In addition, the sub criterion of land use was weighted equal to 0.701, which had the highest weight among the sub criteria. The lowest weight among the sub criteria was attributed to the distance from the road with a weight of 0.106, which indicated the least influence on locating suitable areas for flood spreading.