Application of Simplex method and Mitigation Concept in Participatory Environmental Impact Assessment (Case study: Compost Plants and Landfill Alternatives in Golestan Province)

Environmental impact assessment studies are one of the proper means of ensuring a sustainable development. Determining limitations and mitigation procedures for the negative effects compose the main core of the EIA procedure, in case the suggested development has been allowed. In this study, impact assessment has been applied for five suggested compost and landfill sites in Golestan Province of Iran.
In this study, considering the associated costs, linear programming has been applied to rank the proposed landfill and compost plant sites. For this purpose, GIS data has been used and the optimum site selection process has been implemented. The site has been determined so as to minimize the likely impacts.
Findings: The results show that by using linear programming, site 1 on the eastern part with a slight difference to others, and site 5 in the west,ern part with the least goal function value are the best. The most effective parameters for the sites 1 to 4 is underground water pollution, and for site 5 is loss of valuable land. However, at the site 5, the impact on the neighboring no-hunting area is more important than underground water pollution, considering costs and the required time for mitigation efforts.
Using the minimum and maximum levels of mitigation levels shows that increase of mitigation can reduce pollution, and vice versa. Sensitivity analysis confirms the accuracy of this method.