24    AN EXPERT OPINION APPROACH TO HAZARDOUS
WASTE LANDFILL SITING WITHIN A GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEM
Norman S. Levine, Research Associate
Purdue University
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Bernard Engel, Associate Professor
Purdue University
Department of Agricultural Engineering
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Donald W. Levandowski, Professor
Purdue University
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
INTRODUCTION
The public and the press have become aware that environmentally sound planning should not just
be based on aesthetic considerations, but that it must be grounded in scientifically sound practices.
With this in mind, this project was designed and undertaken. The goal of this project is more than just
designing a method for quantifying the impact of environmentally sensitive facilities, but also for
showing the utility and need for scientific planning and reason on the local and regional levels.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is a powerful tool for waste management problems. The unique ability of GIS to integrate disparate data sets and complicated modeling techniques
within the same graphical environment makes GIS technology the best tool for siting environmentally
sensitive facilities. The integration of expert systems technology into siting considerations is intended
to remove most of the political squabbling of the NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality from
decisions which impact the entire community over many years.
Two basic objectives of the project will be discussed within this paper. The first is the integration of
geophysical, hydrogeologic, and remote sensing data in a GIS environment for use in solving problems involving environmentally sensitive issues. This objective involves the identification, creation,
and capture of map and tabular data for use in a GIS. (Map data in a GIS is normally referred to as a
data plane.) Included in this section are discussions related to the theoretical concerns of data
accuracy, reliability, and data structure, as well as sources of data for those planning similar studies.
The second objective is to define hazardous waste landfill siting criteria for the state of Indiana. The
question which is normally asked is why design a system for hazardous waste landfill site selection?
Hazardous waste landfills were chosen because they represent potentially one of the least desirable
environmental facilities. This is largely a result of the public's perception of the facilities and partly —
rightly — due to the types of materials and toxins which can potentially escape from the system into the
environment. Additionally, hazardous waste facilities have the greatest number of constraints which
are applied to their design, location and operation. Thus designing a system to handle a hazardous
waste landfill siting can be readily adapted to a sanitary landfill or any other type of environmentally
sensitive facility.
In 1987, the National Council on Public Works Improvement released reports on both solid waste1
and hazardous waste management.2 Both reports referred to the fact that the siting of the facilities
was one of the most important and potentially volatile features of waste management. However, the
reports devoted less than two pages each to the subject. This may have been for two reasons: first, the
myriad of laws differ from state to state, and second, the interaction of variables at different sites
make it a complex problem. A brief review of the literature indicates that prior siting studies integrate
49th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1994 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.
225