Identification of Environmentally Benign Disposal Sites for Municipal Solid Waste Management In Hyderabad City Using Remote Sensing and GIS - A Case Study from India

摘要

At the end of the 19th century, the industrial revolution saw the rise of the world of consumers. Not only did the air get more and more polluted but the earth itself became more polluted with the generation of solid waste. In most of the cities, with increase in the population and consequent rise in demand for food and other essentials, there has been a rise in the amount of waste being generated. However, either due to resource crunch or inefficient infrastructure, not all of this waste gets collected and transported efficiently to the final dumpsites leading to an improper management and disposal, resulting in serious impacts on health and problems to the surrounding environment. Site selection criteria for an environmentally benign disposal site for urban and industrial waste are therefore one of the most critical areas of urban planning involving a multi-disciplinary approach and a broad spectrum of considerations. As such, it is a multi-criteria decision-making process, a much-needed system for proper municipal solid waste management. This paper attempts to demonstrate the capabilities and utility of remote sensing and GIS technology for selection of suitable sites for waste disposal for Hyderabad City, India. The study illustrates the application of GIS techniques in the field of solid waste management, through the typical problem of preliminary disposal site selection, using a multi-criteria decision making technique called the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which provides a systematic approach for assessing and integrating the impacts of various factors, involving several levels of, dependent and independent, qualitative and quantitative information. Remote sensing images and Survey of India topomaps are used to extract information on wastelands and other land use features, geology, hydrogeomorphology, drainage, road network and slope of the area. Geographic information systems (GIS) enable in an efficient and lucid manner, the handling and processing of spatial information. The approach used in this project was firstly to exclude all areas where the development of a waste disposal site would not be permitted. Examples of such exclusionary criteria are close proximity to residential areas, airfields, mountainous areas, nature reserves, indigenous forests, geological faults, the coast, dams or rivers. Once these areas had been identified, the remaining areas were then rated according to the geology, depth to groundwater, slope, Hydrogeomorphology and land use/ land cover. From the combination of these factors, favorable areas were identified. In GIS, all conceivable requirements (e.g. site, should be at least 500 meters from the nearest dwelling unit) are initially specified, spatial data integrated and overlaid and based on the final output obtained suitable environmentally benign sites for waste disposal are identified.