Multicriteria Analysis Applied tothe Selection of Areas for the Construction ofSanitary LandfillsintheRibeirão do Meio Basin (Leme, SP), at 1:50,000 scale.

Abstract

Sanitary landfills are the most suitable way to dispose of solid wastes, but the most part of Brazilian municipalities do not have landfills. Given this reality, the low heterogeneity of the dynamic environmental processes and the locationof the Ribeirão do Meio drainage basin in the municipality, which covers an area of 246,81km², this basin was selected as the study area for the creation of a suitability map, on a scale of 1:50,000, forthe establishment of sanitary landfills. The analysis considered components of the physical environment, such as bedrock, unconsolidated materials, topography and groundwater, as well as other environmental components and operational aspects such as land use, and information about legal constraints. The map was created using ArcGIS®software, with an algebraicmapping methodology based on multicriteria analysis, resulting in a suitability classification for landfill construction in four classes (favorable, moderate, severe and restrictive). The predominant suitability classes identified were restrictive (35.1% of the area) and favorable(26.5%). When considering legal and infrastructure constraints, there are few favorable areas for landfill deployment.Even so, the multicriteria analysis developed with the participation of a multidisciplinary team and implemented with digital cartography tools, even considering the diversity of factors involved, has allowed the selection of the most suitable sites.