LANDFILL REQUISITE AND OPTIMAL ALLOCATION FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL IN MADURAI CITY - AN ASSESSMENT OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES USING GIS MODELING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

摘要

Solid waste management is a global environmental problem in today's world. There is an increase in commercial, residential and infrastructure development due to the population growth and this has negative impact on the environment. The degradation of the solid waste results in the emission of carbon dioxide (CO_2), methane (CH_4) and other trace gases. Site selection of new landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal is a great concern of urban governments around the world as old landfill sites are being filled-up and demand for new sites is increasing. Finding a suitable MSW disposal site of adequate size meeting all the regulations is a costly endeavor. With the advent of geographic information systems (GIS) and its decision support tools, preliminary screening and prospective site selection can be done effectively with high degree of accuracy. This paper deals with determination of suitable site for the disposal of urban solid waste generated from Madurai Municipality and also made to study the environmental degradation of the southern fringe area of Madurai city. The investigation is focused on Avaniyapuram town panchayat which comprises of three villages namely Avaniyapuram, Ayyanpappagudi and Kalkulam using GIS techniques.