Landfill Site Selection Using MCDM Methods and GIS in the Sulaimaniyah Governorate, Iraq

Karwan Alkaradaghi, Salahalddin S. Ali, Nadhir Al-Ansari, Jan Laue and Ali Chabuk
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Karwan Alkaradaghi: Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden
Salahalddin S. Ali: Department of Geology, College of Science, Sulaimani University, Sulaimaniyah 460013, Iraq
Nadhir Al-Ansari: Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden
Jan Laue: Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden
Ali Chabuk: Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: A shortage of land for waste disposal is one of the serious problems that faces urban areas in developing countries. The Sulaimaniyah Governorate, located in the north of Iraq, is one of the major cities in the Kurdistan Region of the country, covering an area of 2400 km 2 with a population of 856,990 in 2016. Currently, there is no landfill site in the study area that meets scientific and environmental criteria, and inappropriate solid waste dumping is causing negative environmental impacts. The process of landfill site selection is considered a complex process and is restricted by numerous factors and regulations. This paper proposes multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in a model for landfill site decision. The model assumes the input of two groups of factors that need to satisfy the optimal values of weight coefficients. These groups of constants are natural factors and artificial factors, and they included thirteen selected criteria: slope, geology, land use, urban area, villages, rivers, groundwater, slope, elevation, soil, geology, road, oil and gas, land use, archaeology and power lines. The criteria were used in the geographic information system (GIS), which has a high capacity to process and analyze various data. In addition, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods followed by the weighted linear combination (WLC) method were used to derive criteria weightings using a matrix of pair-wise comparison. Finally, all the multi criteria decision methods were combined to obtain an intersection of the suitability index map for candidate landfill sites. Seven appropriate sites for landfill were suggested, all of which satisfied the scientific and environmental criteria which were adopted in this study.

Keywords: landfill site; GIS software; MCDM methods; criteria weights; suitability index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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