An Integrated GIS-AHP Approach for Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Siting in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The availability of land for proper waste disposal is one of the most important and emerging potential challenges in most big cities. Although some attempts are being made to minimize and recover garbage, landfill disposal continues to be the dominant method of waste disposal. An improper landfill site can negatively impact the environment, the economy, and the environment. Thus, it should be carefully chosen, taking into consideration both rules and standards from other sources. To examine all aspects of this study, an integration of the “Geographic Information System (GIS)” and the “Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)” was incorporated for land-fill site selection. Various parameters were examined to make decisions about landfill site selection. These parameters included slope, elevation, soil texture, LULC, surface water, groundwater table, road network, historical areas, and residential areas. An analytic-hierarchy process was used to determine the relative importance of each parameter, and a final site suitability map was created. With an equal interval classification method, the final index model was categorized into four categories, which included “unsuitable”, “less suitable”, “moderately suitable” and “suitable”. As a result, 30.28% of the study area was less suitable, 28.49% was moderately suitable, 12.39% was suitable, and 28.84% of the study area was unsuitable for landfilling.