Site selection for municipal solid waste landfill considering environmental health risks

The selection of a suitable site for a new municipal solid waste landfill is an effective means to reduce harm to human health and alleviate environmental pollution from its source. However, the current assessment method of potential harm to humans is not scientific and objective during the process of landfill site selection. The fuzzy age-sectioned groundwater environmental health risk assessment model was proposed based on the health risk assessment method of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the coupled methods of triangular fuzzy number and age section assignment. The methodology was applied as a case study to the groundwater environmental health risk assessment of a planned selection of a domestic waste landfill site in northwestern China. Results showed that the comprehensive health risk value of Site 1 is 66, whereas that of Site 2 is 69, Site 1 is better than Site 2, recommended Sitel as the right location. In contrast with the comman methods, this model could not only make the best recommendation scientifically and efficiently, but could also accurately calculate risk level, thereby providing more accurate assessment information to decision makers during the process of selecting a landfill site.