An Urban Solid Waste Landfill Site Evaluation Process Incorporating GIS in Local Scale Environment: A Case of Ahvaz City, Iran

Abstract

Landfill is one of the primary methods for urban solid waste disposal. In order to reduce the<br />environmental adverse effects and to protect the public health and human welfare, evaluating the landfill is<br />utmost importance. In this research work evaluation procedure for the current condition of Ahvaz city urban<br />solid waste landfill site with criteria of Local Screening Method (LSM) is outlined. In this method, with<br />combining GIS technologies and site investigation the main criteria are physical conditions, economical factors,<br />and land use. These 14 criteria were used into the overlaying technique to determine suitability conditions in<br />the study region. The obtained results indicated that Ahvaz solid waste landfill should be graded on a scale of<br />very weak condition in local scale and ranked in order of in appropriate. The main reasons for the occurrence<br />of this condition was considered as land purchase ability, lack of landfill cover values of natural vegetation in<br />public view, difficulty in sampling and high groundwater levels inside of the study site.