Groundwater is occurring within different hydrogeology environment, geologic formationsrnand topographic settings that the factors mainly control the groundwater distribution andrndevelopment for different purposes. A systematic evaluation of groundwater is essential for thernproper utilization and management of this precious natural resource. Integrated GISrn(geographic information system) and remote sensing are efficient techniques in groundwaterrnstudies; in facilitate better data analysis and their interpretations of groundwater potentialrncontrolling parameters. In the present study, an attempt has been made to delineate andrnclassify possible groundwater potential zones in the Bilate River catchment of the southrnEthiopian rift escarpment, found in SNNPR using integrated remote sensing and GISrntechniques. The thematic layers considered in this study are lithology,rngeomorphology/landform, drainage density, lineament density, rainfall, soil, slope and landrnuse/ land cover were prepared using the Landsat ETM+ imagery and ArcGIS software. All thernthematic layers were then assigned weights according to their relative importance inrngroundwater occurrence and the corresponding normalized weights were obtained based onrnthe Saaty's analytical hierarchy process. These weights were applied in linear summationrnequation to obtain a unified weight map containing due weights of all input variables. Thernthematic layers were finally integrated using ArcGIS and IDRIS software to produce arngroundwater potential zone map of the study area. Thus, four different groundwater potentialrnzones were identified, namely 'high, 'moderateâ€™,' lowâ€™ and 'poor'. The high potential zonesrncorrespond to alluvial plains, lacustrine sediments, the fracture valleys, and valley fills, whichrncoincide with the low slope and high lineaments density areas .The eastern portion and somernsmall patches in the northern and valley escarpment of Bilate River of the study area fallrnunder moderate groundwater potential zone. The low zones mainly comprise structural hillsrnand escarpments which contributes high run-off .On the other hand, Poor groundwaterrnpotential zones are present in the mountain peaks, plateaus and escarpments with steep cliff,rnwhere low fractured undifferentiated peralkaline Dino formation, obsidian and pitch stonernexist. The resulted groundwater potential zoning map validated based on existing waterrnsources point data of the study area. Finally, it is concluded that the integrated GIS andrnremote sensing techniques are very efficient and useful for the identification of groundwaterrnpotential zones.rnKey words: Bilate River, Groundwater potential, GIS and remote sensing, westernrnescarpment, thematic maps