Evaluating the spatial distribution of open dumpsites and their effects on the residents in Bosso-Minna, Nigeria.

Abstract

Open dumpsites are the most prevailing form of waste disposal in most developing countries like Nigeria – which has been battling with indiscriminate dumping of waste for decades without much success. The failure of waste management system and Sanitary landfill in Nigeria has resulted to an uncontrollable spread of different kind of disease epidemics such as Malaria, Typhoid, Cholera, Dysentery and many others, posing threats to human health and causing the death of many people especially those residing within close proximity and as well as polluting the land, air and water bodies. The problem has been worsened due to lack of spatial data on the location of the dumpsite as well as identifying the households that are more vulnerable to the diseases associated with uncontrolled dumpsites. This study therefore seeks to evaluate the spatial distribution of open dumpsite in Bosso, Minna using Geographical Information System (GIS) and to investigate their likely effects on the residents. The methodology employed in the study involved the collection of waste dumpsites’ coordinates using Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and using Arc GIS 10.0 to digitize the built up areas from the acquired satellite images, creation of attribute tables, buffer analysis, overlay operations and production of maps. Residents living within 100m buffer zone were classified as highly vulnerable to disease spread, those farther away from dumpsites by 200m were classified as being moderately affected while those residents above 300m from dumpsites were classified as having very low vulnerability to disease spread. The research revealed that most of the open dumpsites were located within the high density areas which clearly demonstrated a true characteristics of high density areas and few of these sites are noticeable in the low and medium density areas. About 50% of the entire buildings fell within the 100 to 300m buffer zone generated. It is therefore recommended that immediate evacuation of these open dumpsites be effected and strategic location of waste transfer stations established by the Government and authority concern.