Lab 6: Suitability Analysis 1

Health and safety is a basic right that should be guaranteed to all individuals within the border of our state. No person should ever be physically or mentally endangered by poor and selfish policy decisions. However, ultimately, politicians and other local lawmakers must make controversial decisions, such as where to construct a toxic waste landfill. By no means is this a simple decision for anyone involved. Quite often, controversial infrastructure projects such as landfills fall victim to NIMBY opposition - Not In My Backyard. No resident desires to live within just miles of a potentially dangerous toxic waste dump. This is where GIS software can be used effectively. Suitability analysis can help lawmakers determine the best possible location to construct a toxic landfill, taking into consideration multiple variables at once.

This very problem is currently occurring in the small, Central Valley farm town of Kettleman City. Currently, Chemical Waste Management operates a toxic waste landfill 3.2 miles outside of the town center. Plans have been proposed to expand this toxic landfill, already the largest in the state. However, light has recently been shed upon several babies that have been born with birth defects. Residents claim that the town's close proximity to the toxic waste dump is to blame. In fact, just last year the dump disposed of 400,000 tons of waste, much of which was material known to cause cancer. As a result of complaints, expansion of the waste site have been halted pending the results of the investigation into birth defects.

It is in a situation such as this where suitability analysis can be used most effectively. Suitability analysis can help lawmakers and city planners determine the absolute best location to construct controversial infrastructure. Suitability analysis can be used to analyze elevation slopes, distance, soil drainage, flood zones, land coverage, and countless other factors. Several of these variables are displayed below in the final outcomes of the suitability analysis tutorial. Such a visualization can shed a new light on a controversial issue. GIS provides the opportunity to combine existing and unique data sets into comprehensible visualizations. Ultimately, it provides lawmakers a tool to analyze and critique growth coalitions.

In the Kettleman City example, suitability analysis could be used to analyze the long-lasting effects of a potential landfill expansion. However, suitability is best used when determining the ideal location of a brand new facility. In the Kettleman City example, the toxic waste landfill already exists, and is unlike to be moved from its present location. Optimally, suitability analysis would be used to determine a new location to move the existing facility to. In terms of the investigation into the birth defects, suitability analysis would be ineffective. While suitability analysis will not effectively analyze the birth defects of children, other features of GIS can plot and point out certain patterns in data.

However, suitability analysis and GIS in general can only attempt to sway public opinion one way or another. Ultimately, the location of controversial and unwanted infrastructure projects such as landfills are determined by the activism of the residents. Communities with higher affluence and higher education levels generally will be able to ward off unwanted facilities. These communities will happily promote and exemplify the NIMBY approach. Environmental justice must be solved at a higher level of public opinion than GIS can provide. Ultimately, however, landfills are a necessary public good, and thus cannot be ignored. Suitability analysis, exemplified below, can combine numerous physical geographic factors to decide an optimum location for a new landfill. Social factors must be solved separately.



***My stream buffers would not buffer correctly - at some point they combined into one buffer as opposed to multiple buffers.