Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

USING HIERARCHICAL AND FUZZY METHODS IN SITE SELECTION OF LANDFILL: A CASE STUDY

Navid Shahrooz

Abstract

One of the important environmental problems is finding a suitable place for burying municipal waste residual (Landfill). Choosing the wrong site causes damage to the environment, human health, and leads to pollution of surface and underground water sources. Several factors are involved in landfill site selection, with different methods devised for to this end. In this paper, geographical information system (GIS) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have been used to identify suitable locations for landfill in the Dezful city. For this purpose, four main criteria were selected: technical and operational, ecological and biological, socioeconomic, and physical criteria, each having a substantial impact on the landfill site selection. Accordingly, 11 information layers were prepared. Then, the final score of the parameters was calculated through paired comparisons. The final solid waste map was prepared after combining 11 data layers through the AHP method and fuzzy analysis through ARC GIS software. Based on the results,the western parts of Dezful city were proposed for landfill, which are currently not considered for waste disposal due to distance and lack of proper access paths. After close investigations, 3 regions were determined and introduced, having the value level, range, and suitable access paths.