An-Najah Staff

Many heaps of waste are spread all over the West Bank due to many factors; namely, the increase in population, the industrial, the agricultural development, the change in lifestyle, the increase in consumption and not following the healthy basis in managing with solid waste. All in all, those factors led to the spread of random waste dumps which created a source of danger upon citizens, natural sights and economical, social and civic sides in the study area. This study aimed at using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a technology assessing for the reality of dump sites in the West Bank and then planning and choosing the best sites suitable for forming healthy dump sites depending on a set of conditions and criteria that depend on the criteria of Basel Agreement concerned with choosing, forming and operating dump sites, in addition to, a number of researches and studies about the subject in order to reach a form in planning dump sites that suites the conditions of the area of study and the researcher's potentials. By using available data about the study area and depending on GIS technology, the needed criteria were derivated and then changed into maps representing the most important economical, social, geological and geomorphological, environmental and climatic criteria after which they were treated by using the aims of spatial and statistical analysis to be used as numeral information data. This helped to build a cartography style to locate the best suitable sites in the area of study in order to establish healthy dump sites. The study included five chapters:- chapter one included the introduction and study plan. Chapter two dealt with the study area concerning natural and human characteristics. Chapter three dealt with the reality of dump sites in the study area and assessing the reality of dump sites depending on a number of conditions and criteria. Chapter four clustered around establishing a number of criteria for planning dump sites and grading them according to suitability and evaluating them with reference to each rubric and building Model Builder for finding a map that symbolizes the best sites to build healthy dump sites in the West Bank. Chapter five dealt with the results of the study in addition to raising some recommendations which pinpoint the importance of the standard of the administrations of dump sites in the West Bank. In the light of the findings of the study, dumps are random, unsuitable and don’t satisfy healthy and environmental conditions because their sites are also random, unscientific and not following the required criteria. After applying different criteria in using GIS, the study recommended the best sites for dump sites and so symbolizing them in suitable maps that number 10 and 9 the most suitable sites and so the degree of suitability decreases gradually. Finally the study recommended in pinpointing the role of GIS in the field of correct management of dumps and urged the responsible to close random dumps and rehabitating them following healthy and environmental bases in planning dump sites.