The changing climate and global warming have rendered existing surface water insufficient, which is projected to adversely influence the irrigated farming systems globally. Consequently, groundwater demand has increased significantly owing to increasing population and demand for plant-based foods especially in South Asia and Pakistan. This study aimed to determine the potential areas for groundwater use for agriculture sector development in the study area Lower Dir District. ArcGIS 10.4 was utilized for geospatial analysis, which is referred to as Multi Influencing Factor (MIF) methodology. Seven parameters including land cover, geology, soil, rainfall, underground faults (liniment) density, drainage density, and slope, were utilized for delineation purpose. Considering relative significance and influence of each parameter in the groundwater recharge rating and weightage was given and potential groundwater areas were classified into very high, high, good, and poor. The result of classification disclosed that the areas of 113.10, 659.38, 674.68, and 124.17 km² had very high, high, good, and poor potential for groundwater agricultural uses, respectively. Field surveys for water table indicated groundwater potentiality, which was high for Kotkay and Lalqila union councils having shallow water table. However, groundwater potentiality was poor in Zimdara, Khal, and Talash, characterized with a very deep water table. Moreover, the study effectively revealed that remote sensing and GIS could be developed as potent tools for mapping potential sites for groundwater utilization. Furthermore, MIF technique could be a suitable approach for delineation of groundwater potential zone, which can be applied for further research in different areas.

Streamflow prediction is vital to control the effects of floods and mitigation. Physical prediction model often provides satisfactory results, but these models require massive computational work and hydrogeomorphological variables to develop a prediction system. At the same time, data-driven prediction models are quick to apply, easy to handle, and reliable. This study investigates a new hybrid model, the wavelet bootstrap quadratic response surface, for accurate streamflow prediction. Wavelet analysis is a well-known time-frequency joint analysis technique applied in various fields like biological signals, vibration signals, and hydrological signals. The wavelet analysis is used to denoise the time series data. Bootstrap is a nonparametric method for removing uncertainty that uses an intensive resampling methodology with replacement. The authors analyzed the results of the studied models with different statistical metrics, and it has been observed that the wavelet bootstrap quadratic response surface model provides the most efficient results.

Sampling plans using the coefficient of variation (CV) attract increasing attention by many authors in the literature due to its importance to measure the product quality. A generalized multiple dependent state (GMDS) sampling plan for accepting a lot is proposed based on the coefficient of variation when a quality characteristic comes from a normal distribution. The optimal plan parameters of the proposed plan are solved by a nonlinear optimization model, which minimizes the sample size required for inspection while satisfying the given producer’s risk and the consumer’s risk at the same time. A comparative study of the proposed GMDS sampling plan over the two existing sampling plans is considered. A real example is given to demonstrate the proposed plan.

Reservoir inflow prediction is a vital subject in the field of hydrology because it determines the flood event. The negative impact of the floods could be minimized greatly if the flood frequency is predicted accurately in advance. In the present study, a novel hybrid model, bootstrap quadratic response surface is developed to test daily streamflow prediction. The developed bootstrap quadratic response surface model is compared with multiple linear regression model, first-order response surface model, quadratic response surface model, wavelet first-order response surface model, wavelet quadratic response surface model, and bootstrap first-order response surface model. Time series data of monsoon season (1 July to 30 September) for the year 2010 of the Chenab river basin are analyzed. The studied models are tested by using performance indices: Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency, mean absolute error, persistence index, and root mean square error. Results reveal that the proposed model, i.e., bootstrap quadratic response surface shows good performance and produces optimum results for daily reservoir inflow prediction than other models used in the study.

Reliable streamflow prediction is vital to improving river operations, flood avoidance, water supply, and water resources management. Recently, response surface models have been launched in reservoir inflow prediction due to their potential to model composite nonlinear behaviour. Authors develop a hybrid model, wavelet quadratic response surface for reservoir inflow prediction in Chenab river basin, Pakistan. Wavelet transform has extensive applications in the field biomedical, engineering, and hydrology. Discrete wavelet transform technique discloses the structure of nonstationary signals. A proper and careful selection of mother wavelet ensure the best performance of wavelet transform. The choice of a suitable wavelet function participates in implementing the wavelet function used in response surface based models for reliable prediction. The performance of the proposed model is checked on different performance indices for model evaluation. The new developed model, wavelet quadratic response surface, depicts excellent results than other studied models.