Geospatial Implications Assessment of Zahrat Al Finjan Solid Waste Landfill, North of West Bank, Palestine

Abstract

Finding suitable sites for landfills is one of the most difficult tasks in solid waste management. The sanitary landfill site selection must address social, environmental and technical concerns. This work aims at assessing the geospatial implications posed by the current Zahrat Al Finjan (ZF) landfill disposal site, located in the north of the West Bank in Jenin districts. GIS-based assessment was employed for different criteria including geology, soil, slope, land use, and stream network. This paper focuses on the assessment of ZF landfill potential environmental impacts on groundwater, sensitive ecosystems, rural areas and land use. The existing soil mantle at the landfill site consisting of clay and marly clay is influenced natural attenuation of the leachate infiltration. Nevertheless, uncontrolled accumulation of the leachate and the absence of a properly treated collection system pose potential contamination risk to shallow groundwater aquifer in the future. Also, gas produced from the landfill is not vented and so leaves from the cover and poses fire risk, and as dissolved in the leachate causes unpleasant odors. Spread of flies, mosquitoes, bird droppings, rodents and spread of stray dogs are other negative impacts of the poorly operated landfill. Monitoring systems and recommendations are proposed in this paper.