Geospatial based Land suitability assessment for waste dumping A case study on Kesbewa DSD, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

In the current context, waste dumping could be identified as the foremost and rising issue of Sri Lanka. Still, Sri Lanka has not followed a proper waste recycling system and as a result, the number of waste dumping sites was increased in nearby suburbs and those locations endangered to nature. Therefore, systematic waste disposal and scientific location selection for waste dumping is a national requirement. This study investigated the waste dumping problem in the third high populated area in Colombo District, the Kesbewa Divisional Secretariat Division. The suitability of waste dumping of each land parcel was analyzed by utilizing both raster-based and vector-based approaches. Data were collected from Survey Department of Sri Lanka and open-source satellite data platforms. There are eight data layers manipulated over the study such as Building, Land use, Slope, Waterbody, Road, Reservation, and Population. Further, an investigation performed by using the Geographical Information Sciences (GIS) environment with the use of ArcGIS 10.5 software. Finally, prepared the factor maps and identified the suitability of land parcels for waste dumping. Further, it has revealed that the existing Karadiyana waste disposal site only has 38% of suitability and not in suitable condition for waste dumping. In addition, it directly connected to the nearby Bolgoda river and emphasized as a major warning to human and environment in future. Consequently, in order to overcome that issue identified three suitable locations for waste dumping by the study in the Kesbewa area.