Investigating the capability of Ardakan desert areas in order to dispose of industrial waste by hierarchical method abstract

With the growth of population and expansion of urbanization followed by the rapid development of industry, one of the most important issues that has occupied city managers is the optimal management of industerial waste. The aim of this study is to investigate the capability of desert areas to dispose of industrial waste in Ardakan city which was done in 2021. To achieve this goal, the method of hierarchical analysis was used. Selection criteria are soil characteristics including clay percentage and sand percentage, geology, land use, population density, distance from water sources, distance from four environmental zones, distance from waterway, distance from road, groundwater level, slope, and distance from fault. The questionnaire was completed by 30 experts and Expert Choice software was used. After determining the weights of the criteria, fuzzy overlap of the layers was performed using Arc GIS software. The results showed that land use has the highest weight and share in assessing the potential of land for waste disposal. After this, slope criteria, distance from water sources, population density and water level and soil science have the highest weights, respectively. Finally, the land capability map was divided into five classes. Spatial distribution of areas with very high potential for waste disposal showed that some areas in the west, a small part of the central areas and southeastern areas with a total area of 769.21 square kilometers have the best potential for waste disposal. These areas cover about 6% of the total area of ​​Ardakan city. The results showed that the specific characteristics of desert areas such as poorly covered and barren lands is the most important feature of these areas in terms of waste disposal and the method of hierarchical analysis with fuzzy overlap can determine suitable areas for waste disposal to an acceptable level.