Solid waste landfill site suitability assessment using gis tools: case study of jimma town, Ethiopia

Abstract

Solid waste landfill site is a serious problem in the town because all solid wastes are not dumped in the suitable areas. The geographical information system (GIS) tools for selection of solid waste landfill site have become an advance. The study area has the problem of solid waste landfill site identification. Landfill sitting was determined for Jimma Town through the integration of geographic information system (GIS) tools, weighted linear combination (WLC) analysis, and remote sensing techniques. The main objective of this study is selection and management of prospective landfill sites using Geographic information system (GIS) tools for Jimma Town, which are environmentally suitable. The main data used for this study were a spatial resolution of (DEM 30 m *30m); ground control point (GCP) collected by ground point survey (GPS), geological map of the study area, protected area and shape files developed from structural map of the town. Also several parameters were collected from various sources in vector and raster GIS formats, and then, used within the GIS-based WLC analysis to select optimum solid waste landfill sites. Thematic maps as slope, protected area, agricultural lands, roads, river, soil map, historical site, geology, wet land, airport and built up area were considered in this research. Also, the trend of urban expansion within the study area was monitored using the master plan of the towns to support the selection process of landfill sites. After analysis of suitability of solid waste landfill site by using GIS tools and weighted analysis methods; The final result of solid waste landfill site suitability map was produced by overlay analyses system on GIS tools and ranked as the value given 1;unsuitable,2;less suitable,3;moderate suitable and 4;highly suitable sites of the town were determined. The results shows that 16.13% of the town covers unsuitable for municipal solid waste landfill site; 74.64% less suitable; 7.42% moderately suitable; and 2.02% most suitable. The most suitable site for solid waste landfill sites fall where free of environmental, social and health risks. The GIS tools analysis approach is appropriate for selection of municipal solid waste landfill site. Finally, three sites were suggested taking into the consideration the environmental, social and economic variables applied in the GIS-based WLC analysis.