In the past decade, locating landfill site has been recognized as a significant planning
problem and has subsequently received much attention from researchers in the
planning sector. In particular, the siting of landfills is becoming more of an issue due
to the prevalent ânot in my backyardâ (NIMBY) and ânot in anyoneâs backyardâ
(NIABY) concerns from the public.
The purpose of this study, after identifying important criteria for siting landfills, was
to develop a user-friendly landfill site selection model using a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) framework. Due to unavailability of electronic spatial
data for Lesotho, Bloemfontein area was used as a test case. The model is tested in
Bloemfontein with the intension to be applied in the city of Maseru as soon as the
spatial data become available.
The three main objectives were to develop GIS criteria for locating the landfill,
identify possible sites that were suitable for this type of development and evaluate the
effectiveness of these GIS methods used in the study.
Production of constraint and factor maps took place. Afterwards, final suitability map
was created using ArcGIS analysis tools. The optimum suitability map indicated that
there were more optimal sites found within Bloemfontein city.
The results discovered in Bloemfontein city using the GIS-based study revealed that
although highly suitable areas were limited, a site was still able to be chosen under the
predefined parameters. The site is not located on, or near, any environmental interest
areas and is located a significant distance away from streams and urban areas, which
minimizes social conflict and environmental impacts.
The site is also located close enough (1-2km) to major road (N8) to Kimberley from
Bloemfontein city and railroad, which ensures that economic costs of implementation
are minimal. The selected region has a slope less than 12%, which are both an
infrastructural advantage and a means of minimizing environmental impacts. Furthermore, the landfill is located in an area within 22 kilometres of the
Bloemfontein study area. Since the site is located in a highly suitable area,
environmental, social, and economic concerns have been met.
Ultimately, the study proposes an acceptable landfill site for solid waste, taking
Bloemfontein as the test study area. This research will contribute in developing
Lesothoâs spatial database of environmental and social information to assist in the
formulation of environmental policy. It is also expected that such municipal GIS
when planned and implemented efficiently with sufficient public awareness and
support would be instrumental in bringing reforms at the local and national level,
realizing a major improvement without much capital investment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-07292008-094719 |
| Date | 29 July 2008 |
| Creators | Thoso, Makibinyane |
| Contributors | Dr CH Barker |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-07292008-094719/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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