Selecting wastewater sites using analytical hierarchy and geographic information system

Locating sewer networks and treatment facilities for processing prior to disposal of domestic and industrial wastewater is a complex, difficult, tedious and protracted process requiring evaluation of many different criteria. To find the best place to locate a wastewater stabilisation pond in Behbahan, a city in Iran, ecological, technical and economical criteria were taken into consideration. Each of these criteria had some subcriteria. The analytical hierarchy process is a useful tool used for decision-making problems. In this paper, a geographical information system and the analytical hierarchy process as a multi-criteria decision-making tool were integrated for site selection of wastewater stabilisation ponds. The importance of each criterion was determined by expert survey. After identification and weighting each criterion using the analytical hierarchy process, the information layers were entered onto a geographic information system. Finally, all the weighted maps were reclassified to select the appropriate site for waste stabilisation ponds for the city.