Water resources are increasingly in demand in order to help agricultural and industrial development, to create incomes and wealth in rural areas, to reduce poverty among rural people, and to contribute to the sustainability of natural resources and the environment. Reliable and timely information on the available natural resources is very much essential to formulate a comprehensive land use plan for sustainable development. The land, water, minerals, and biomass resources are currently under tremendous pressure in the context of highly competing and often conflicting demands of an ever-expanding population. Consequently, over exploitation and mismanagement of resources are exerting detrimental impact on environment. In India, more than 75% of population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture plays a vital role in our country’s economy. In order to mitigate droughts, which occur frequently in several parts of the country especially in dry land areas the Ministry of Agriculture and

Groundwater is an important source for irrigated agriculture as it generally furnishes reliable and flexible inputs of water. To this extent, groundwater is instrumental in managing risk and optimizing food production in the rainfed areas. However, this reliance upon shallow aquifer systems for irrigation has turned to dependency. Depleting groundwater is a serious problem throughout Asia and more so in India as more than 22 million wells are operational in India supporting the economy.

Groundwater occurrence and its movement in an area totally depends on various aspects. Throughout the hydrological cycle, waters interact with different agents and go through various phases. This whole process takes place in an equilibrium manner, i.e. the total inflow is equal to the outflow in that system and the net change in total quantity is negligible or zero. Groundwater as a part of the hydrological system also needs attention, not only due to its contribution to the hydrological cycle but because it also plays a vital role in the existence of living beings. The quantity of groundwater in an area totally depends on various factors. The rate of infiltration, runoff, base flow, evaporation etc., mainly depends on the geology, geomorphology, slope, vegetation, various man made and natural structures, and soil type of the area. Even though these factors play a vital role in the groundwater or surface water quantity, the impact of each factor changes from area to area and is controlled by the distribution of them within the area of interest. Groundwater development program needs a large volume of multidisciplinary data from various sources. Its occurrence being a subsurface phenomenon, identity primarily based on remote sensing analysis, and some direct observable terrain capabilities like geology, geomorphology, and hydrologic characters can be analyzed using geospatial techniques for better demarcation of groundwater resources.

Satellite data provide quick and useful baseline information about various factors that are controlling directly or indirectly the prevalence and motion of groundwater. The factors such as geomorphology, soil types, land slope, land use/land cover, drainage patterns, lineaments, etc.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

Mavinahallikere sub-watershed lie in Kadur taluk of Chikmagalur district occupies an area about 61 sqkm. The subwatershed is located between latitude 13°36^’18” to 13° 40’41” N and longitude 76° 0’39” to 76° 7’18” E, shown in the Figure 1. According to meteorological observation recorded an average annual rainfall of 646 mm and a temperature of 31°C. Winds are generally light in the study area, with some increase in force during the monsoon season. Winds are mostly, from directions between North-West and South-West during May to September and in the rest of the year, predominantly from the Southeast. The relative humidity is very high during the monsoon season, generally exceeding 90%. It is comparatively less during the rest of the year. The driest part of the year is from January to March, particularly in the afternoons. This forms a typical hard rock area having hydrogeological conditions less favorable for shallow groundwater reserve Migmatites and Granodiorte - tonalitic gneiss are the observed rock type.

To prepare various thematic maps, we have used SOI topographic map No 57C/2 of 1:50,000 scale, and IRS LISS-IV 2015 image. The soil, lithology, etc. obtained from published literature, including research papers and reports. The FCC image interpreted to delineate various land use land cover patterns and geomorphic units based on the image characteristics. Thirty-five bore wells GPS points collected from the study area using GPS Garmin 60 with an accuracy of 3.5 meters, to identify the graticules to prepare the groundwater contour map. Each unit of thematic map assigned with ranking logically and integrated to generate the groundwater potential map generated in the GIS platform using Arc GIS10.3.

To demarcate the groundwater potential zones in Mavinahallikere sub-watershed, the various thematic layers like drainage, surface water bodies, land use and land cover, geomorphology, slope, lineament, soil, lithology, and groundwater contour maps are integrated using Arc GIS 10.3. The ranking has been given to various units of each thematic maps based on IMSD (1995)12 guideline and their groundwater controlling factors.

Geospatial techniques for groundwater potential mapping are a quick and inexpensive way of getting facts on groundwater incidence, which aids in selecting promising areas for further improvement in groundwater resources. IRS-LISS-IV data interpretation provided information pertaining to hydrological conditions of various features like lithology, geomorphology, slope, soil. Presently land use/ land cover pattern is beneficial in understanding the nature and water potentiality. Each thematic maps assigned with ranking and integrated to generate the study area's groundwater potential map. The results show that five distinct, very poor, poor, moderate, good, and very good zones have been delineated.

Authors would like to dedicate the work to Late Sri Harisha T G (A sincere and innocent student of our department) and coordinator UGC-DRS (SAP-III), Department of Applied Geology, Kuvempu University for extending facility to carry out this work.