The increasing demand for freshwater supplies and the effects of climate change in arid and hyper-arid regions are pushing governments to explore new water resources for food security assurance. Groundwater is one of the most valuable water resources in these regions, which are facing water scarcity due to climatic conditions and limited rainfall. In this manuscript, we provide an integrated approach of remote sensing, geographic information systems, and analytical hierarchical process (AHP) to identify the groundwater potential zone in the central Eastern Desert, Egypt. A knowledge-driven GIS-technique-based method for distinguishing groundwater potential zones used multi-criteria decision analysis and AHP. Ten factors influencing groundwater were considered in this study, including elevation, slope steepness, rainfall, drainage density, lineament density, the distance from major fractures, land use/land cover, lithology, soil type, and the distance from the channel network. Three classes of groundwater prospective zones were identified, namely good potential (3.5%), moderate potential (7.8%), and poor potential (88.6%) zones. Well data from the study area were used to cross-validate the results with 82.5% accuracy. During the last 8 years, the static water level of the Quaternary alluvium aquifer greatly decreased (14 m) due to excessive over pumping in the El-Dir area, with no recorded recharges reaching this site. Since 1997, there has been a noticeable decline in major rainfall storms as a result of climate change. The current study introduces a cost-effective multidisciplinary approach to exploring groundwater resources, especially in arid environments. Moreover, a significant modern recharge for shallow groundwater aquifers is taking place, even in hyper-arid conditions.

The investigations of groundwater occurrences and its recharge mechanisms in structurally controlled terrain under arid environments are necessary for developing sustainable management strategies. In current study, an interdisciplinary approach includes readily accessible climatic, geological, topographic, and hydrological datasets together with satellite imagery and field data, were employed for better understand of the groundwater regime existing under special geological setting. Our findings indicate that: 1) the Araba sandstone aquifer has maximum thickness of about 220 m in some area controlled by structural setting, particularly the basement uplift, 2) the hydrologic analyses of this basin revealed that it received a total 52.66 × 10⁶ m³ of rainfall between July 2018 to June 2019 that led to runoff volume about 29.47 × 10⁶ m³ with total losses amounts about 23.2 × 10⁶ m³, 3) topographically-driven modern recharge to the structural controlled terrain (Wadi El Morra) can be occurred, and therefore further investigation related to the aquifer response to climate variability, are required. The study suggested a management plan to capitalize the available surface water potentialities of El Morra basin through establishing three lakes that store water and enhance the groundwater recharge opportunities. In addition, three regions are selected for future groundwater exploration based on geological and subsurface data.