Examination of Antalya Basin groundwater level change with artificial intelligence methods

Groundwater is a vital natural resource that supplies drinking water to approximately one-third of the world's population and forms the foundation of agricultural production. Due to the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic factors, significant declines in groundwater levels have been observed globally. This situation presents a concerning outlook for the sustainability of water resources and future water security. The Antalya basin is also affected by this global trend, with groundwater levels in the region showing a marked decrease in recent years. This study analyzes the changes in water levels of observation wells in the Antalya basin using artificial neural networks optimized with the Cheetah Optimization Algorithm. Based on water level measurement data from 2008 to 2023, the research aims to forecast groundwater levels for the next decade. To evaluate the results obtained with the Cheetah Optimization Algorithm, the model was also optimized and run using Particle Swarm Optimization, Grey Wolf Optimization, and the Simulated Annealing Algorithm, and the resulting performance metrics were compared. It was determined that the model optimized with Grey Wolf Optimization achieved the best performance metrics, while the Cheetah Optimization Algorithm produced competitive results.