Application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the Selection of A Suitable Sanitary Landfill Site for Solid Waste Disposal And

H.a.p Audu ,S.d Iyeke ,A Aladenika

doi:10.7176/jnsr/10-2-02

Abstract

Shortage of land for waste disposal and inappropriate dump sites is the biggest problems in the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria, Warri in particular. This problem has its negative impact on human and environment owing to the menace often caused by indiscriminate dumping of solid waste. The swamping nature of the soil and the irregular topographic nature of the land hinder the flow of accumulated water formed by rains. This makes runoff during the rainy season almost impossible leading to flood in most cases. To select an appropriate site for landfill, there is need to consider different alternative areas using numerous criteria’s before making decision. In this study, geographical information systems (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were employed to analyze selected criteria’s that can influence the selection of a suitable site for sanitary landfill application in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. The selected criterions include; flood extent, stream, rivers, swampy areas, ground water, built-up areas, roads, slopes, airport, palaces and point of interests (POIs). Features of interest such as roads, built-up areas, swampy areas, rivers and streams in the SPOT 5 satellite imagery were converted to vector format by digitizing in order to create a geographic database dataset. Weighted Overlay Linear Combination for map superimposition was adopted while constraints and factors were employed as the criteria for decision-making process. Suitability rating value of 1 to 5 meaning; not suitable, least suitable, moderately suitable, highly suitable and mostly suitable was use as the final index for land suitability. Results of the weighted overlay revealed three potential sites within the study area and they include; site 1, site 2, and site 3 with 3.334, 5.418 and 47/582 hectares of land suitable for sanitary landfill applications. Keyword: Sanitary landfill, weighted overlay, Suitability rating, geographical information systems (GIS), analytical hierarchy process (AHP) DOI : 10.7176/JNSR/10-2-02 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

Highlights

One of the major problems in solid waste management is the selection of the appropriate site for waste disposal
3.3 Results of Thematic Map Generation 3.3.1 Thematic Map for Environmental theme Results of all the thematic maps of the factors within the environmental theme in raster format and their Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) priority ranking served as input data to generate weighted overlay analysis map for environmental theme
In order to mitigate the impacts on the environment and public health, a claim, which requires a fast decision-making process regarding the final disposal of the MSW, motivates this study

Summary

Introduction

One of the major problems in solid waste management is the selection of the appropriate site for waste disposal. Landfill Site Selection (LSS) in urban or rural areas is a critical issue for the planning process because of its enormous impact on the economy, ecology and the environmental health of the region (Chang et al, 2008). LSS is a difficult, complex process, which requires evaluation of many different criteria such as social, environmental and economic factors. The selection of sitting criteria obviously targets financial efficiency and minimization of environmental damage to natural resources and public health. Economic, environmental and social criteria are required on the first phase of evaluation. Environmental criteria (distance to surface waters, ground waters, etc.) are very important due to the fact that the landfill may affect the ecology of the vicinity area (Kontos et al, 2003)

Methods

Results

Conclusion