DETERMINATION OF POTENTIAL LANDFILL SITE FOR AURANGABAD CITY USING MULTI CRITERIA EVALUATION

The haphazard growth in the urban population of the Indian cities in the recent past is creating a great demand for solid waste management. In developing countries solid waste management is becoming a major public health and environment concern. This trend can be linked to our changing food habits, lifestyles and living standard. Due to less priority, limited funds and poor planning many Indian cities dump their solid waste in open places. Aurangabad with a population of around 1.2 million is one of the major city in Maharashtra which currently generates around 400 tons of solid waste. Currently Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) disposes its waste at exhausted landfill at Naregaon (8.9 ha) which is about 5km from city. Considering the exhaust condition on Naregaon landfill, municipality planners are searching for another land in the vicinity but in vain due to severe oppose from local people. Motivated by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation in developing the city, this paper tries to find the suitable landfill sites using multi criteria decision analysis, overlay analysis of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Site Suitability