Lab 5- Spatial Analysis

Suitability Analysis- Part 1

Suitability Analysis- Part 2

     Suitability Analysis and GIS would help answer where if any is the best location for the waste dump to expand by combining important information given. The expansion of toxic waste dump near Kettleman City, California has been halted because of the city’s birth defects. The direct cause of the birth defects are unknown but are thought to be the contamination of water supply which contains elevated levels of arsenic. The citizens of Kettleman blame the toxic dump for the water’s pollution therefore highly opposes its expansion. In this case, we can use suitability analysis which is a GIS based process to find the answers the citizens of Kettleman deserve.
     By using suitability analysis, we can study the landscape and its characteristics to determine to some degree if the toxic waste dump activities are deemed unsuitable. GIS and suitability analysis would be a valuable tool analyzing many factors such as slope, elevation, soil drainage, stream buffers, distance to landfills, and many others and creating a map highlighting proper land use planning. 

     Because most of the birth defects in Kettleman City are thought to be an effect of contaminated water, we should first model the streams near the city and the toxic dump and its proposed expansion areas. That way we can properly place the toxic dump expansion in an area where its overflows will not go into the city's water supply. We can do this by creating a stream buffer of a desired length and see if the toxic dump or any of its proposed expansions fall into this category. If they do, they should be relocated for the public's safety or have a stricter hazardous material policy to ensure no contamination occurs.
     Suitability analysis can take many factors into account. Although making sure stream and water contamination does not occur is most important, analyzing slope, elevation, soil drainage, land cover, and distance to landfills are also a factor. Slope and soil drainage can affect runoff of contamination of chemicals into the rivers so it is important to see which location has high elevation, slope, and elevation so city planners can take extra precaution of chemical runoff in those areas. Also with GIS and suitability analysis city planners can take into account which factor is most important and number them in that order. For example, analyzing slope may be more important than soil drainage. Also some land covers are more vulnerable to chemical runoffs than others so we can number different land types such as deserts, tundra, plains, and others in order of important and chemical vulnerability.
     It is important to also employ newer GIS and suitability analysis methods to study possible birth defect causes as well as traditional methods to expand the city's knowledge of whether to expand or relocate the toxic waste dump. Also the dump in the area of Kettleman City was among 22 facilities that California EPA officers determined emitted unusually high levels of radiation and was even later fined many times for violating EPA standards and not analyzing storm runoff and leachate for PCB properly.Although the chemical company believe the residents of Kettleman have a NIMBY like attitude, the waste dump facility should not of violated the resident's trust by violating EPA standards multiple times. Although there isn't solid evidence that the birth defects are a cause of chemical runoff into water supply, the people are rightfully suspicious at the toxic dump and should oppose against dump expansion until further analysis and studies are undertaken.By using spatial and suitability analysis, city planners will take all factors such as stream buffers, soil drainage, slope, and runoff into consideration and find the best place for the toxic dump expansion where chemical water contamination will least likely occur. By using GIS techniques, residents and chemical companies can both be appeased by finding the best location if there is one in the area near Kettleman. Also residents can find out if there is any correlation of birth defects due to polluted water and the toxic waste dump.