Yasaman Amirsoleymani; Ozeair Abessi; Yasser Ebrahimian Ghajari
Abstract
Introduction: Today, solid waste management is an important problem for urban planners all over the world. The landfill, which is a site for the safe disposal of waste materials by burial, considered to be the core of an integrated waste management strategy in modern cities, when it is accompanied by ...
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Introduction: Today, solid waste management is an important problem for urban planners all over the world. The landfill, which is a site for the safe disposal of waste materials by burial, considered to be the core of an integrated waste management strategy in modern cities, when it is accompanied by other methods. Selecting a suitable site for landfilling is the first and most important phase in the process of waste disposal. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) became a common tool for the selection of landfill sites. In this research by integrating spatial information systems and a multi-criteria decision-making model, spatial limitations for siting sanitary landfills along the province of Mazandaran were evaluated based on the regulatory compliance mentioned by the Iranian Department of Environment. Material and methods: Municipal solid waste disposal is one of the major problems of the urban environment in almost all northern states of Iran, especially in Mazandaran Province. In this paper, using the analytical hierarchy process a spatial information system has been developed for siting urban waste burial landfills in Mazandaran province. In this study, ArcGIS 10.4.1 software was used to create an information database for spatial analysis and integration of map layers. The AHP model and Expert choice software were also used to compute the weight of criteria. Results and discussion: In this study, first, according to the regulatory requirements of the Iranian Department of Environment, the effective factors for siting urban landfills were extracted. These criteria are slope, distance from fault, flood plain, distance from the sea, distance from rivers, distance from lakes and wetlands, distance from groundwater wells, groundwater depth, distance from the protected areas, distance from urban areas, distance from rural areas, distance from educational and medical centers, distance from historical and ancient centers, distance from local and international airports, distance from industries and also having access to roads. Considering the elimination criteria and by classification and scoring them, maps of the layer of each criterion were produced in the GIS system. As the role of each criterion is different, at the next step, the relative weights of criteria were calculated using AHP and Expert Choice. Finally, by integrating the map layers of each criterion and by deleting layers of limitation, the suitable areas have been classified into three categories. The results show that 16156 KM2 of Mazandaran province (about 68 percent of the total area) is forbidden for any landfilling based on the national regulations of DOE and only 32 percent of the total area has the initial conditions for any disposal. The initial candidate landfill sites were separated into 3 categories, high suitability, moderate suitability and low suitability. So the 2405 KM2 of the province's area has low suitability, 4914 KM2 with moderate suitability and 281 KM2 has high suitability conditions. Conclusion: The comparison of results show that only 2 percent of the province has essentially the optimal conditions for proper landfilling and Mazandaran province is a region with strict restriction from this aspect. This study shows that the combination of GIS and AHP methods for application of regulatory requirements for limitation zone and the priority setting criteria can be considered as a suitable approach for siting urban landfills.
Saman Rostami; Hasan Amini-Rad; Ozeair Abessi
Volume 16, Issue 3 , October 2018, , Pages 217-232
Abstract
Introduction: During the last years, oil and gas exploration, extraction and refinery activities caused a lot of damage to the sensitive environment of the Persian Gulf. In the current study, the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in the northern Persian Gulf was investigated, where oil and gas explorations, ...
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Introduction: During the last years, oil and gas exploration, extraction and refinery activities caused a lot of damage to the sensitive environment of the Persian Gulf. In the current study, the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in the northern Persian Gulf was investigated, where oil and gas explorations, extractions, refineries and export infrastructures are concentrated. Each year, large amounts of petroleum-related pollutants discharge into the Persian Gulf in this region. In this research, the spatial distribution and the origin of oil-associated hazardous pollutants i.e., Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Assaluyeh Port were investigated. Material and methods: Fifteen samples of the surface sediment of the study area were collected in March 2016, using the Van Veen Grab sampler in five half lines perpendicular to the coast in phases one to five of the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone. Samples were packed in aluminum foils and transferred to the laboratory. Using freeze-drying process, the water was removed from the samples. Pollutants tend to accumulate in fine sediment particles due to the high specific surface area of these particles, and therefore, fine-grained particles (≥63 μm) were separated by physical screening. Finally, 16 compounds of PAHs, which are known as the toxic compounds by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), were analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Total concentrations of the compounds were measured and their spatial distribution was illustrated using ArcGIS software. The origin of the observed Aromatic Hydrocarbons was also estimated using some indices. Results and discussion: Total concentrations of the 16 compounds ranged from 46.6 to 84.7 ng/g dry weight in the sampling stations. The source of compounds was identified using certain petrogenic multiple indices. Furthermore, the environmental risk of the presence of these compounds was estimated using the sediment quality guidelines of the state of Florid. It was shown that except for Naphthalene and Acenaphthene, concentration levels of other PAHs were lower than the threshold level, which is the concentration that destructive biological effects in benthic communities is rarely expected. Conclusion: Total concentrations of 16 PAH compounds in the study area showed that the concentration of no compound exceeded the concentration of Effects Range, so it can be concluded that the possibility of harmful effects on benthos communities and other organisms in the food chain and also humans at the top of the chain is low. Considering the high rates of sedimentation and erosion and also the fossil origin of the pollutants, it seems that contaminations are continuously being buried under the new layers of sediment in the study area. Therefore, the continuing source of pollution could not cause serious contamination in the surface sediment of the region.
Ozeair Abessi; Mohesn Saeedi
Volume 8, Issue 3 , April 2011
Abstract
In this paper, a simple methodology based on multivariate analysis is developed to create a groundwater quality index (GWQI). The methodology is based on three general stages, selection, standardization and aggregation, to develop a groundwater quality index in an area using regional and local standards. ...
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In this paper, a simple methodology based on multivariate analysis is developed to create a groundwater quality index (GWQI). The methodology is based on three general stages, selection, standardization and aggregation, to develop a groundwater quality index in an area using regional and local standards. In this method, through selecting a set of similar parameters, standard values of the parameters are obtained by dividing the averaged concentration of parameters by their maximum allowable concentration cited in Iran’s Water Quality Standard. Final indices for ground water quality are derived through weighting the standard magnitudes of the parameters. In order to appraise the approach, existing water quality data for the ground water of the Qazvin plateau were used. In the selection phase, eight important parameters (K+ , Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, SO2-4, Cl-, TDS, pH) for the potability of ground water were selected. These parameters were more accurately monitored and documented in the study area and are very important in desirable drinking water. In order to identify the suitable range of indices, the derived indices were compared with those obtained for some mineral waters. Sketching a comparative ground water iso-index map in the study area makes it possible to have a comprehensive and easily interpretable picture of the ground water quality in the area of Qazvin plateau. Results show the proximity of the derived indices to those obtained for mineral water in some regions of Qazvin Province. It is clear that evaluating the overall suitability of the ground water for drinking usage in an area essentially needs survey of other parameters in addition to those observed here.
Ozeair Abessi; Mohsen Saeedi
Volume 8, Issue 1 , October 2010
Abstract
Due to the location of a domestic, industrial and agricultural zone near the Caspian Sea, this water body has long been under pressure and environmental threat. As a result of development of oil production activities in Caspian region, such as oil exploration and extraction in the central and eastern ...
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Due to the location of a domestic, industrial and agricultural zone near the Caspian Sea, this water body has long been under pressure and environmental threat. As a result of development of oil production activities in Caspian region, such as oil exploration and extraction in the central and eastern part, a large volume of oil related pollutants is released annually into this important water body. Considering the fact that hydrocarbons may cause adverse impacts on the aquatic and marginal life, the monitoring of sediment as hydrocarbons in the sea has long been considered. In this paper, oil contamination of surface sediments in large areas of the Mazandran and Golestan coasts (southeastern Caspian) are investigated in detail. In this study, using different concentrations of hydrocarbon components and developing related ratios and indices, the biodegradation and weathering extent of oil residues in the bottom sediments of the southern and southeastern Caspian Sea were appraised. The general concentration of the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), normal Alkanes (n-Alkanes) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the study area shows the relatively clean condition of sediments in the western part of the sea and moderate contamination in the central and eastern parts. Indices developed also corroborate the presence of degraded oil residue, high relative biodegradation and a degree of weathering of hydrocarbons in the surface sediment of the area, which suggest a chronic input of oil-related hydrocarbons in the neighbourhood of the study region.
