Abstract:
Open dumping of Solid Waste (SW) has become a challenging issue in Sri Lanka and
causes environmental pollution and public nuisance. Vavuniya District is no exception, and
mixtures of all types of SW collected within the Urban Council limits are collectively
emptied in Pampaimadu which is 10 km away from Vavuniya town. The partial burning of
SW in the dump site aggravates air pollution and nuisance which was reported by the
residents living proximity to the dump site. As an alternative measure, construction of
sanitary landfill would be an appreciable option considering environmental safety.
However, finding a suitable site for a sanitary landfill is the challenge for the district as
environmental, demographic and social factors have to be considered. The aim of this
study is to identify suitable sites for municipal SW disposal for Vavuniya District
considering all the relevant environmental and social factors using Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) techniques. In this context, factors such as; surface water bodies, land use
pattern and transport network were considered for the GIS analysis which was performed
on ArcMap version 10. Appropriate functions, such as buffering, rasterizing and
reclassification, were performed to obtain the final output. The analysis was based on
Multi-Criteria Analysis in combination with Weighted Overlay Analysis to identify and
categorize the suitable areas for SW disposal site. The results revealed, 0.2% (3.96 km2) of
the total area of the District is highly suitable; 35.6% (665.8 km2) is moderately suitable;
62.8% (1175.6 km2) is less suitable and 1.4% (26.0 km2) is unsuitable as a SW disposal
site based on the sizes of bufferzones considering the degree of environmental safety. In
addition, topographic elevation and groundwater table data must be considered along with
the field validation for the selection of best possible site as well as to make sure the
feasibility.
