Hazard Ranking of Landfills Using Fuzzy Composite Programming
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 122, Issue 4
Abstract
The environmental and health risks posed by unregulated landfills are concerns that must be addressed. These concerns have been highlighted with the recent reauthorization of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D, which requires the closure of all unregulated landfills by October 1993. Most communities with unregulated landfills do not have the financial resources to conduct full-scale risk assessments. This paper proposes the use of a multicriteria assessment system as a tool for screening and prioritizing unregulated disposal sites according to their level of environmental and health hazard. This multicriteria assessment system uses a technique termed composite programming and allows for the use of imprecise information through fuzzy set theory. Using this methodology in landfill hazard assessment allows for the consideration of uncertainty associated with parameters that impact the hazard assessment. Additionally, the user can specify hazards that are most detrimental. The complexity of input parameters (first level indicators) were selected to minimize the time required to collect and/or analyze site-specific data. The result obtained in the assessment is a fuzzy number that indicates the most likely range of hazard and the largest likely range of hazard relative to the best and worst case scenarios. A case study, in which this method is applied to a small rural landfill, is presented to illustrate the methodology.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 122 • Issue 4 • April 1996
Pages: 248 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 1, 1996
Published in print: Apr 1996
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