LANDFILL SITE SELECTION THROUGH GIS APPROACH FOR FAST GROWING URBAN AREA

Landfill site selection in an urban area is a critical issue in the urban planning process because of enormous impact on the economy, ecology, and the environmental health of the region with the growth of the urbanization, larger amount of wastes that are produced and unfortunately the problem gets bigger every day. A selection of proper waste disposal site is a function of many parameters which can be involved under the Environment, Planning & Social Functions. In this paper, planning parameters are used to rank the four sites which are already proposed in the master plan of Surat. Also, the study includes proposing of new sites apart from the four proposed sites fulfilling MoEF guidelines. The whole study is carried out using GIS and AHP as a tool. The integration of both GIS and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques improves decision-making because it enhances an environment for transformation and combination of geographical data and stakeholders' preferences. In site selection problems, GIS perform deterministic Overlay and buffer operations while; MCDM methods evaluate alternatives based on the decision maker's subjective values and priorities