Abstract:
Landfill site selection in highly populated areas is a critical issue in
today‘s society because of its enormous impact on the economy, ecology
and the environmental health of the region. Present study was conducted
to find suitable locations for landfills in Matara district, which is a highly
urbanized area. Geographic Information Systems and Analytic Hierarchy
Process were integrated in this study to solve the landfill site selection
problem. Waste collection and population data of the study area were
used to estimate the cumulative waste amounts up to the year 2020 and
the minimum effective area needed for landfill sites.
Eleven landfill siting constraint criterion maps including surface water,
forest reserves, wetlands, coastal zone, rainfall, town centres, residential
areas, important buildings, major roads and railways, slope and soil were
prepared and unsuitable areas for landfills were determined according to
the existing regulations. Further evaluation of the remaining suitable areas
in three categories of high, medium and low priority for being suitable for
landfill sites was done using factor criteria.
Depending on the relative importance of the identified criteria, weights
were calculated by Analytic Hierarchy Process and were incorporated in
to the analysis. The maps prepared for each criterion were then overlaid
in Geographic Information Systems environment to obtain the final
suitability. The resulting final factor map shows a land area of 112.4 km2
from Matara district as highly suitable for landfill areas.
Field investigations show that Thalpawila, Parawahera and Kekanadura
have most suitable areas for landfill sites at Matara district.
