A Report on Using Geographic Information System (GIS) to Select Solid Waste Disposal Site: A Case Study in Techiman Municipality, Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana

ABSTRACT

Solid waste management over the years has been a serious problem on the nation

Ghana. This solid waste materials are generated by humans in the cities and

municipalities of almost all developing countries. In this country, it is one of the

most pressing concerns of the government because of the health problems that

comes with it when not managed well. In most countries locating a suitable site for

the construction of landfills is not easy. With the invention of the Geographic

Information System (GIS), locating suitable sites has become very easy because, it

is a tool that allows the operator to understand, view, query, and visualize spatial

and non-spatial data and interpretate data in many ways. It gives the operator much

understanding of the relationship, pattern and trends that is displayed in a map form,

reports and charts (Lui and Mason, 2009; Bhatta, 2010). The current waste disposal

site in the municipality is in bad condition and makes the people around vulnerable

to health hazards. By the employment of certain criteria in the work, a suitable

landfill site was selected within the municipality which will help minimize the

effect of the waste on the health of the people within the municipality. Physical

characteristics, socio-economic and land use factors are the criteria used for

selecting the site in this research (EPA, 2006).

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