Impact of Uncontrolled Urbanisation on Potential Aquifer Zones

With the increase in population in certain urban areas, resulting in the sometimes uncontrolled expansion of cities, the increase in water requirements and the multiplication of sources of groundwater pollution, it is very important to know the boundaries of even the most complex aquifers in the world in order not only to guarantee their sustainable use, but also to keep them at a safe distance from sources of pollution, especially anthropogenic. Many of the world's cities draw their water from great distances because the aquifers they contain were not identified and preserved at the time they were built and developed. Just as it can be difficult to know the geometry of pollution sources, it is equally complex to know the geometry of aquifers, especially in granitic or gneissic bedrock. This paper examines the impact of uncontrolled urbanisation on potential aquifers. To do this, it uses an approach that integrates field and remote sensing data in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), combined with piezometry data used in a clusterisassion to delimit potentially aquiferous zones in an environment characterised by poorly controlled urban growth. This approach uses spatial representation to delimit potentially aquiferous zones in urban and peri-urban environments. Given the anarchic nature of certain urban developments, this work shows that several aquifers in many urban areas may still be threatened by anthropogenic pollution and deserve to be preserved. Furthermore, the preservation of these aquifers in urban and peri-urban areas seems to require more urgent and robust policies from both governments and development partners if they are to be preserved and used sustainably.