Vulnerability Hotspots Mapping for Enhancing Sanitation Services Provision: A Case Study of Jordan

Abstract

Enhancing sanitation services is a major challenge for sustainable development and plans. This work aims at developing a vulnerability hotspot mapping for improving sanitation services provision in Jordan based on a multi-weighted criteria model. Multiple spatial, physical, demographic, social, economic, and sanitation data were collected and compiled using GIS. We also considered experts’ and stakeholders’ opinions to determine the necessary indicators needed to develop Sanitation Hotspot Index (SHI). We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis to assign the relative weights of ten criteria. We also checked the consistency of AHP results. We found that the sanitation and population density got the highest relative weights, while soil hydraulic conductivity got the lowest. Based on the results of AHP, we developed two SHI mapping for two administrative levels: district and neighborhood levels. The maps classified the sanitation vulnerability into five classes ranging from most vulnerable to least vulnerable. The developed SHI maps can be used as a decision support tool for decision-makers and planners to allocate the necessary funds and orient the aids from donors and international agencies to enhance sanitation services in the country’s most vulnerable areas.