Suitable sites identification for solid waste dumping using RS and GIS approach: A case study of Aurangabad, (MS) India

Apace growth of urban area produces more solid waste; a city like Aurangabad daily produces approximately 450 metric ton of garbage which is dumped at Naregaon; but residents of Naregaon protesting against dumping of garbage. They are facing serious health issues because water pollution and foul smell. It is a burning issue in Aurangabad city since last year. It is very critical task to identify new sites using traditional way for dumping of solid waste. A rule based identification of new site can be done using a Remote Sensing and GIS, which can save time and increase accuracy. For that purpose a required data was collected from the Survey of India and NRSC Hyderabad. A Spatial feature extraction was done using for Reserved Forest area, Water bodies, Canals, drainage Network, Road and Railway Network. Rasterization processes were applied on Toposheet to extract Settlement area. For every spatial feature a Buffer Zone was created as per guideline given by the Ministry of Environment, GOI. After this process a one by one Overlay Analysis was performed. Seven sites which follow the guidelines and having more than 100 Acres area were selected for Field visit. In Field visit Geographic coordinates were taken using GPS enabled Smartphone with `My GPS Coordinates´ android application having accuracy of 4 meter and verified these sites on Google Earth also. On the basis of field visit three sites are proposed as most suitable sites for dumping of solid waste. In this work we have tried to give solution to local decision makers regarding this issue.