Groundwater is a valuable and essential natural resource that is crucial for a nation’s growth and development. This study focused on delineating groundwater potential zones within the Woter Watershed in Ethiopia, underscoring the significance of groundwater as a vital natural resource for development. Ten key parameters influencing groundwater potential, including geology, geomorphology, slope, lineament density, topographic wetness index, topographic position index, land use/cover, rainfall, drainage density, and soil, were analyzed using Saaty’s Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Thematic layers for each parameter were prepared, weighted, normalized, and ranked according to their impact on groundwater potential and recharge using a Pairwise Comparison Matrix (PCM). The results indicated that geology (28.3%) and land use/cover (20.6%) were the most influential factors affecting groundwater potential, whereas soil (3.0%) and rainfall (1.6%) had the least influence. The assessment results revealed that 13.07% (33.39 km²) of the study area was classified as possessing very good potential; 33.94% (86.69 km²) as good; 33.47% (85.5 km²) as moderate; 19.14% (48.89 km²) as poor; and the remaining 0.38% (0.98 km²) as very poor potential for groundwater exploitation. Furthermore, the western and northern portions of the study area are situated within a zone characterized by very good groundwater potential. Validation through an existing water source inventory, which includes pumping wells, demonstrated a high predictive accuracy of 98%, with the majority of wells located within the very good and good groundwater potential zones across the northern, central-eastern, western, northwestern, and northeastern regions. These findings provide valuable insights for water resource management and soil water conservation planning aimed at enhancing the groundwater recharge within the study area.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, GIS and Remote sensing, groundwater potential, Woter watershed