Remote sensing, GIS, Rainwater harvesting, Al-Muhammadi Valey

Rainfall is a key source in diminishing the problem of water scarcity in arid and semiarid regions. Rainwater harvesting is an essential tool for rainwater conservation. An appropriate location for rainwater harvesting structure plays an important role in increasing the water availability and improving the water resources planning. This study aims to select the suitable location for a rainwater harvesting structure using a suitability model generated with ModelBuilder in ArcGIS. Six thematic layers, i.e. soil structure, slope, drainage density, vegetation cover, distance to roads, and runoff depth, are considered to find the proper site for the rainwater harvesting structure. The method is applied to the Al-Muhammadi Valley of the Al-Anbar Province of Iraq. Analysis of the results showed that 12% represents the suitable zone of the total study area, 42% represents medium suitable area, and 46% represents unsuitable areas to implement the rainwater harvesting structure. This study finds that the GIS tool is flexible, cost effective and time saving for screening large areas. The application of this scheme should be included in any policy adoption for site selection for rainwater harvesting.