Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Site Selection in Jacobabad Using RS/GIS Techniques

Abstract

Solid waste management is a worldwide concern, particularly in the developing countries. The solid waste disposal and landfill site management is a serious issue. City planners and municipal corporations have to confront with the problem of Municipal Solid Waste Management all over the world, especially in the developing countries. Population growth is responsible for an increase in residential, commercial and infrastructure development, which poses adverse effects on the environment. One of the most serious and challenging environmental challenge being faced by the municipal corporations of developing countries is urban solid waste management. Dumping of municipal waste in unsuitable areas poses serious challenges to the local habitants of the neighborhood. Municipal solid waste, if not properly managed, is one of the major environmental issues that could further lead to different diseases' transmission, aesthetic and odor nuisance, and atmospheric and water pollution, etc. This paper aims to deal with the selection of suitable site for disposing off municipal solid waste management being produced at the Jacobabad City using Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing techniques. In the Jacobabad City, the existing open dumping systems are not environmentally sound posing serious environmental threats. Loads of generated waste (about 64 tons/day as per 2012 estimates) has been dumped into the inappropriate sites. Keeping in view the complicated process of landfill site, this study considers all the environmental, social and technical factors (distances from residences, proximity to road networks, schools, health facilities and reservoirs) to determine the best site for Municipal Solid Waste disposal in Jacobabad City. Different analysis like buffer analysis, Euclidean distance and overlay analysis were also performed in this study to come up with the most suitable landfill site.