Landfill site selection using MCDM methods and GIS in the central part of the Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract

One of the most prevalent and serious issues afflicting developing countries is the lack of adequate space for waste disposal. Al-Gharbia Governorate, located in the middle of the Nile Delta in Egypt, suffers from random selection of sites for solid waste disposal, resulting in significant environmental challenges. The aim of this study is to determine optimal landfill locations within Al-Gharbia Governorate and validate the existing landfill sites. Four techniques of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) were applied to generate suitability maps for the Governorate: the analytical hierarchy procedure (AHP), ratio scale weighting (RSW), straight rank sum (SRS), and Boolean method. Eleven effective criteria were considered: groundwater, surface water, elevation, slope, soils, land use, roads, railways, urban areas, villages, and power lines. The suitability maps were categorized into four different classes: suitable, moderately suitable, low suitable, and unsuitable. The latest suitability map was determined by combining the results from the different methods, providing decision-makers with the means to select the optimal landfill site. The suitable zone encompasses a small area (3%), predominantly located in the northeast region (Al-Mahalla), central region (Tanta), and northern region (Kotour). Conversely, the unsuitable area covers a substantial portion (72.7%) due to the agricultural nature of the governorate, high population density, and elevated groundwater levels. Furthermore, all existing landfill sites fall within unsuitable or low suitable areas, inflicting severe impacts on the nearby environment, public health, and groundwater integrity.

GIS-MCDM Integrated approach for suitable landfill site selection: Case study of the southwestern part of Bejaia Province, Algeria

“…According to the literature, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) represents the most widespread MCDM method for weighting criteria and ranking alternatives, thus guaranteeing informed and systematic decision making (Özkan et al, 2019). The analysis results reveal that the soil permeability and the presence of surface water emerge as the most important factors (Armanuos et al, 2023;Ase et al, 2020;Bilgilioglu et al, 2022). closely followed by land use in assessing the suitability of sites for land lls (Durand-Delga, 1980; Kazuva et al, 2021).…”