IDENTIFICATION OF SUITABLE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DUMPSITE USING GIS AND GROUNDWATER MODELING FOR NAMAKKAL MUNICIPALITY

Urbanization of developing countries ultimately results in generation of enormous solid waste from both industrial and domestic sectors. The disposal of this huge MSW becomes a challenging process as the wastelands are rapidly converted into residential and industrial plots. As a result improper site selection for the disposal turns out to be a threating agent for health and environmental sustainability. In this paper, attempts have been made to determine sites that are appropriate for solid waste dumping in Namakkal Municipality, Tamil Nadu, India by combining Geographic Information System (GIS) and Ground Water Modelling. Various thematic layers representing the selection criteria has been created using GIS and Ground Water Flow has been determined using Visual MODFLOW. Questionnaire Survey has been conducted for the determination of the relative importance weights of factors (criteria). The final map obtained through overlay analysis shows areas that are suitable for solid waste dumping. Also population forecast for 2 decades has been done to check the reliability of the selected site for future loading of waste.