Multicriteria Geographic Information System (GIS) Analysis for Solid Waste Management in Enugu Metropolis Enugu State, Nigeria

International audience Waste management has been one of the pressing issues in the world especially in growing countries which Nigeria is one. Waste management is so important that it cannot be overlooked, because people must be generating wastes and if not properly handled, pollutes the environment, spreads diseases and reduces the aesthetic nature of the environment. The aim of the research was to perform a multi-criteria GIS analysis for solid waste management in Enugu metropolis. The aim was achieved through: establishment of criteria for suitable landfill sites, classification and assignment of relative weights to the selected criteria, assessment of the existing landfill site and then the production of suitability map showing possible locations for siting landfill sites for proper solid waste management.Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Geographic Information System (GIS) were used for the identification of suitable landfill site. GIS was used in integrating various layers of information to produce a suitability map for solid waste landfill site location. Multi-criteria Decision Analysis especially Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to identify the significant role of each criteria in the analysis. Six (6) criteria were considered and were used as input map layers, and they include slope, elevation, land use, road network, river distribution and soil texture. Each criterion was ranked according to their level of importance using pairwise comparison method. Weighted overlay tool in ArcGIS was used to produce final suitability map with four (4) levels of suitability. Out of the total area 22, 915.800 m 2 (approximately 23,000 hectares), 25.53% is seen to be of low suitability, 55.55% is of medium suitability, 11.20% is high in suitability while just 7.20% was of extreme suitability. From the results generated, six (6) potential sites were selected for location of landfill site in Enugu metropolis. It is recommended that the proposed landfill sites should be open further for geotechnical and hydrological investigations before taking off.