GIS based MCDM for waste disposal site selection in Dejen town, Ethiopia
Mulusew Minuyelet Zewdie, Simachew Miniykis Yeshanew
Abstract
Selecting a properly identified waste disposal site is the most complex and difficult task due to the social, environmental, technical, economic, and legal factors, and important point for the abruptly expanded industries and increased population. Waste management system is the challenging order and has posed infinite problems in environmental science and human health. The leftover materials that have been released from the industries and daily human life activities should be appropriately collected, transferred, transported, and finally dumped into the properly selected waste disposal site. Waste management greatly helps to keep the environment healthy and significantly reduces risks caused by improperly dumped waste materials. The present study was intended to investigate suitable waste disposal site in Dejen town applying GIS and AHP techniques of multicriteria decision making by considering the ten main influencing factors (distance from the settlement, the road network and the stream, land use, geology, geomorphology, slope, wind speed and direction, lineament density and elevation). Based on the researchers’ expert and over-viewing of previous studies, the subjectively defined controlling parameters were hierarchically formulated in the matrix and changed into numerical values to obtain the relative impotency of each feature for the preparation of the suitability modeling map. 7.9, 46.4, 6.5, 22.2 and 17% of the study area is highly suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, less suitable and unsuitable for waste disposal site selection respectively. As a result, environmentally sound, feasible and acceptable waste disposal site map was generated using ArcGIS software based on the relative weights of the controlling factors. • Waste materials released from the industries and daily human life greatly affect the environment. • GIS and AHP techniques of MCDM analysis were an effective method to investigate suitable waste disposal site. • AHP technique was applied by prioritizing all the influencing factors that greatly helps to minimize complex decisions.