Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS vol 7 issue 3

(JoRSG)

Journal of

Remote Sensing & GIS

ISSN 2230-7990 (Online)

ISSN 2321-421X (Print)

September–December 2016SJIF: 3.713

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It is my privilege to present the print version of the [Volume 7 Issue 3] of our Journal of Remote

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1. Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation for Solid Waste Disposal Site Selection in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: Case Study of Wukro and Adi-gudom Towns A.A.Mohammedshum, M.A.Gebresilassie, C.M. Rulinda 1

2. Satellite based Monitoring of Water Resource Project using Google Earth: A Case Study of Bhima LIS J. Harsha, R. Pandian, M. Thulasidharan, V. Raghunathan 10

3. Zonation of Potential Groundwater and Its Spatial Correlation with Indices and Boreholes: Western Region of Blue Nile Basin, EthiopiaDemeke Sewnet, Hasan Raja Naqvi, A. S. Mohammed Abdul Athick 22

4. Improvement of a Geospatial Web-Network for Road Substructure Management in Mekelle City, Ethiopia Kidu Gebremedhin 35

5. A Contribution to the Improvement of Water Supply Network Maintenance in Cameroon Using Mobile GIS and Web Mapping Ekani Mebenga Thibaut Aloys, Takem Ebangha Agbor Delphine, Moha EL-AYACHI, Kamguia Joseph 47

ContentsJournal of Remote Sensing & GIS

JoRSG (2016) 1-9 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 1

Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS ISSN: 2230-7990(online), ISSN: 2321-421X(print)

Volume 7, Issue 3

www.stmjournals.com

Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation for Solid Waste Disposal

Site Selection in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: Case Study of

Wukro and Adi-gudom Towns

A.A.Mohammedshum*, M.A.Gebresilassie, C.M. Rulinda Institute for Geo-Information and Earth Observation Sciences (I-GEOS), Mekelle University,

Mekelle, Ethiopia

Abstract Identifying solid waste disposal sites and appropriately managing them is challenging task to

many developing countries. This is also a critical problem in Ethiopia in general and in the

towns of Wukro and Adi-gudom in particular. The existing waste disposal sites of both towns

are not sufficient in capacity, and due to the location of the sites, the type of wastes dumped

the surrounding areas are impacted severely. The rapid population growth and sprawling of

the towns are further aggravating the problem. This study was conducted to first assess the

existing solid waste management strategies in both towns; and secondly to identify potential

solid waste disposal sites, using GIS and remote sensing techniques. The study used spatial

multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) method. SMCE was used to combine influencing factors and

constraints for the selection of dumping sites locations in each town. First, site suitability

maps for each of the factors and constraints were developed within GIS. In Wukro, results

indicated that 12 locations were found appropriate whereas in Adi-gudom 9 locations were

found appropriate. They were further ranked against their suitability in terms of wind

direction, proximity to settlement area and distance from the center of the town. Finally, two

locations were identified as the best appropriate site locations for both towns. This study

showed that the spatial multicriteria evaluation methods are proved to be efficient and low

cost tools to select appropriate dumping sites so as to facilitate decision-making processes.

Future work on incorporating hydrological factors that influence the dumping site selections

are recommended to fine tune the results.

Keywords: Ethiopia, GIS, MCE, remote sensing, solid waste site disposal

INTRODUCTION The process of selecting and managing solid

waste dumping sites is a challenging problem

especially in the developing countries. The

problem is more worrisome due to lack of

proper solid waste management procedures,

lack of supporting tools and the nature of

wastes produced. The practice of direct

dumping of waste into water bodies, open and

abandoned land without proper treatment leads

to serious environmental contamination and

has negative impacts on public health.

According to Abbas et al. [1], waste

management problems usually stem from

unsustainable methods of waste disposal,

which is a result of inadequate planning and

implementation. Rapid population growth and

urbanization in the developing world are

contributing to the imbalanced exploitation of

non-renewable resources and causing disposal

of effluent and toxic waste indiscriminately.

According to The United State Environmental

Protection Agency [2], solid waste is defined

as any garbage, refuse, sludge produced from a

waste water or water supply treatment plant or

air dried materials including solid, liquid,

semi-solid or contained gaseous material

resulting from industrial, commercial mining,

agricultural operations and from community

activities. Cities produce large volumes of

various types of wastes from households,

hospitals, industry etc. on daily basis.

Effective solid waste disposal procedures

depend upon the selection of proper dumping

site considering mainly its social, economic

and environmental impacts. Municipal solid

waste disposal has been a serious concern in

developing countries due to poverty,


Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS ISSN: 2230-7990(online), ISSN: 2321-421X(print)

Volume 7, Issue 3

www.stmjournals.com

Satellite based Monitoring of Water Resource Project

using Google Earth: A Case Study of Bhima LIS

J. Harsha*, R. Pandian, M. Thulasidharan, V. Raghunathan Monitoring South Organization, Central Water Commission, Jalasoudha, HMT Post, Bangalore,

Karnataka, India

Abstract Monitoring of physical progress of water resources projects is challenging because the field

inspection has serious limitations as the canal network isn’t uniform across the command

area. The canal network consists of main canals, distributaries and minors of varying

dimensions right from head works towards tail end. Hence, use of remote sensing and

geographical information system (RS and GIS) offers tremendous scope in monitoring of

progress of water resources projects as the field visits are limited by accessibility to command

area, time constraints and constraints to choose the location. But the varying dimensions of

canal network in command area is also challenging for RS and GIS as it demands very high

resolution satellite images to map the alignment of canal network that varies as less as 50 cm

and discriminate the breaks in canal network. Bhima lift irrigation scheme (Bhima LIS) in

southern Indian state of Karnataka has been chosen for the present study. The study illustrates

how the challenges encountered during monitoring of physical progress in Bhima LIS such as

limitations of India’s Cartosat images were overcome using Pleiades satellite images and GIS

tools of Google Earth. The present study then unravels the various short comings in the

execution of canal network of Bhima LIS through use of RS and GIS techniques of Google

Earth which could have been impossible with either field visits as well as Cartosat satellite

images.

Keywords: Monitoring, irrigation potential, remote sensing, GIS, Google Earth, distributary

INTRODUCTION The federal government of India funds several

water resources projects executed by state

governments. It sets well-defined timeline for

completion of the dam head works, canal

networks and achievement of targeted ultimate

irrigation potential in its command area [1].

One of the key challenges for monitoring of

water resources projects is to verify the

progress of canal network and therefore the

ultimate irrigation potential existing on

ground. The execution of canal network or its

physical progress during different periods of

time is one area where remote sensing and

geographic information system (RS and GIS)

techniques offer tremendous scope for

mapping the progress and decision making vis-

à-vis targets/timelines. This is because

physical monitoring with field visits has

serious limitation that it is next to impossible

to verify every kilometer or every hectare of

the vast command area of water resources

projects. But, the present study had a different

challenge not only with monitoring of water

resource project but also the limitation of

spatial and spectral resolution of Indian

satellites Cartosat 1 and 2.

STUDY AREA Realizing the advantages offered by satellite

based remote sensing and GIS, the federal

government of India initiated (on pilot basis)

the monitoring of physical progress of water

resources projects in 2013–14 [2]. One such

pilot water resource project chosen for satellite

based monitoring was Bhima lift irrigation

scheme (Bhima LIS) located in the southern

state of Karnataka in India. Bhima LIS is

situated across river Bhima, a tributary of river

Krishna in the Kalaburagi district (earlier

Gulbarga district) of the state of Karnataka in

India (Plate 1). The location co-ordinates of

the project are 17°03ʹ59.50ʺ and

17°18ʹ14.00ʺN Latitude and 76°07ʹ37.81ʺ and


Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS ISSN: 2230-7990(online), ISSN: 2321-421X (print)

Volume 7, Issue 3

www.stmjournals.com

Zonation of Potential Groundwater and Its Spatial

Correlation with Indices and Boreholes: Western Region

of Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Demeke Sewnet1, Hasan Raja Naqvi

2,*, A.S. Mohammed Abdul Athick

2

1Department of Civil Engineering, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia

2Department of Geomatics Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

Abstract Water has a significant role in day-to-day life of people to fulfill their requirements. Although,

study area is a part of Blue Nile basin but it has great water scarcity because of its

topographic and geological nature. It has been observed during the field visit that people are

travelling long to get the water from remote areas. Productivity through groundwater is quite

high as compared to surface water, but groundwater resources have not yet been properly

exploited. The present study attempts to identify Groundwater Potential (GWP) zones in the

Sede River Watershed of the Blue Nile Basin using an integrated remote sensing and GIS

techniques employed Satty's Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The thematic layers were

integrated using weighted overlay analysis method to delineate GWP map of the study area.

Study highlighted the different potential sites where the water could accumulate and resist

long time. Geology and lineament are the mainly control for the occurrence and movement of

groundwater in the study area. Normalized Differentiate Water Index (NDWI) results showed

the positive value less than 0.09 which highlights no existence of water where the community

struggling a lot. Finally extracted pixels (>0.20) of NDMI and resulted groundwater potential

sites has been validated by existing borehole data. Interestingly, study found very close

relationships between them and out of 58 boreholes, approximately 15 were found under very

good and good ground water potential zones and vicinity of extracted moisture pixels of

NDMI.

Keywords: Groundwater potential, GIS and Remote Sensing, NDWI, NDMI, Sede Watershed,

Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION Groundwater is one of the most valuable

natural resources, which supports human

health, economic development and ecological

diversity. In addition, groundwater supports

freshwater ponds, wetlands, streams, and

sound environments, all of which represent

specific and important habitats for flora and

fauna [1]. The occurrence of groundwater is

related to climatic, geological, hydrological,

physiographical and ecological factors [2].

Ethiopia has abundant surface and ground

water resources potential of which

groundwater has a lion-share. The preliminary

estimated amount of yearly groundwater

recharge of the country is about 28x109 m

3.

Recent research highlighted that the potential

is much greater than this amount and it plays

an important role in Ethiopia as a major source

of water for domestic uses, industries and

livestock [3]. Groundwater utilization has been

limited to community water supply using

shallow hand dug wells and unprotected

springs. In rural areas where more than 85% of

the population lives water shortage problems

can be solved by proper utilization of

groundwater [4].

Water supply in the Blue Nile River Basin is

largely obtained from surface water, which is

highly dependent on the seasonal inputs from

rainfall. Successive years of low and

inconsistent rainfall have left large areas of the

region in severe drought that resulted in crop

failure and drinking water shortages [5]. The

Blue Nile River Basin is affected by droughts

and floods.



Volume 7, Issue 3

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Improvement of a Geospatial Web-Network for Road

Substructure Management in Mekelle City, Ethiopia

Kidu Gebremedhin* UKAID, Mekelle, Ethiopia

Abstract Infrastructure is a framework which covers the basic facilities and capacities of material,

institutional and personnel kind which are essential for the functioning of a national economy.

Road is key infrastructure which leads to an overall better standard of living; it is currently

the heart of regional connectivity of a continent. Road substructure management is a

challenging task to many developing countries, due to limited technical resources. This is a

challenging issue too in Ethiopia in general, and in Mekelle city in particular. In Mekelle road

substructure is poorly managed, mainly caused by a lack of appropriate organization and

access of spatial information timely, leading to poor and unhurried decision making

processes. Due to the fast expansion and urbanization developments, the city urgently needs to

upgrade its road management system, while optimizing its limited resources. This study was

conducted first to assess the existing road substructure management in Mekelle city, and

second to exploit the use of available low-cost geo-spatial Web technologies so as to improve

it. Methods included the use of PostgreSQL to create a geospatial database that will store

road substructure information and the use of the Open Geo-spatial Consortium (OGC)

standard’s Web Map Service (WMS) for disseminating this information over the Internet,

through an interactive geo-portal. A Geo-spatial Web prototype has been developed and

tested; and its relevance was validated by users in Mekelle city. The study showed that with

the use of Geo-spatial Web technologies, road substructure management can be improved

significantly in places where resources are limited.

Keywords: Road Substructure Management, Geo-spatial Web-Network, Mekelle, Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION The term infrastructure refers to the

underlying foundation used for providing

goods and services; especially the basic

capacities and facilities that facilitate the

economic growth of a community and

reducing the costs of production and raising

profitability, production, income and

employment [1, 2]. Infrastructure is a

framework which includes basic facilities and

capacities which are required and essential for

the functioning of a national economy and

society. A frequently used more specific

expression for these premises is public

infrastructure [3, 4].

Urban infrastructure is a major part of public

infrastructure and comprises all technical,

institutional, legal and organizational

premises, which are required for the

functioning of urban settlements. Road

infrastructures are major components of urban

infrastructures that constitute the main

infrastructure serving regional connectivity,

carrying at least 80 percent of goods and 90

percent of passengers. Roads are currently the

heart of regional connectivity for the continent

Africa. However, it is characterized by

missing links and poor road maintenance

managements [5]. Urban management as such

covers aspects of organizational structure,

relationships between agencies within and

external to the organization, organizational

planning and implementation as well as the

processes of decision-making of urban

programs.

Its scope incorporates the whole complex of

interventions of government agencies, private,

commercial and noncommercial institutions

[6]. Urban infrastructure management is one of

the major components of the wider urban

management functions of local government.

Infrastructure management within urban areas



Volume 7, Issue 3

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A Contribution to the Improvement of Water Supply

Network Maintenance in Cameroon Using Mobile GIS

and Web Mapping

Ekani Mebenga Thibaut Aloys1,*, Takem Ebangha Agbor Delphine

2, Moha EL-AYACHI

3,

Kamguia Joseph2

1National Institute of Cartography, Division of Mapping work, Service of Surveying, Yaoundé,

Cameroon

2National Institute of Cartography, Yaoundé, Cameroon

3School of Geomatic and Surveying Engineering, Rabat, Morocco

Abstract The management of the water supply networks (WSN) of Cameroon is a very big challenge,

particularly in terms of maintenance and monitoring. This paper aimed at contributing to the

improvement of the reactive maintenance of the water networks of Cameroon but also to open

a way towards a proactive maintenance in this country. It demonstrated the great advantage

offered by a tablet using a mobile GIS (Geographic Information System) for visualizing and

finding underground network elements. Another tool that was essential in this document was

Google’s Fusion Tables (GFT) which is a free data visualization web tool. Based on some

sample data of pipes and valves collected in Ekounou quarter, thematic web maps displaying

data points and spatial information were developed in order to demonstrate how Web

Mapping can help decide when and what network element to change. A mechanism of

updating databases and then web maps was also highlighted in the last part of the paper

where it is suggested a proactive schema for maintenance and monitoring of Cameroon’s

WSN.

Keywords: Water supply network, Mobile GIS, Web mapping, GNSS, Predictive models of

pipe failures

INTRODUCTION Most of the water supply networks (WSNs) of

Cameroon were constructed in the 1980s. The

situation is similar to the one described by

GRAPHINFO (2006), a company specialized in

the development and publication of Geographic

Information Software relating notably to WSN:

The knowledge of maintenance technicians

about the implantation of networks becomes

weak over the years and modifications, paper

plan deteriorate due to several manipulations

and weather conditions, valves were installed in

relation to elements of environment unreliable

over time (trees, entrances, posts…), there is no

coherence between as-built drawings with the

real positions of network elements. It

sometimes happens that technician close the

main valve leading to many quarters, depriving

population living there of drinking water,

because they do not find the specific valve

leading to the zone subject to intervention.

Besides, these networks are subject to many

failures (break and leakage on pipes) over the

years [1, 2]. The leakages on pipes are not

often localized in time. Lack of knowledge of

spatial location of networks elements,

combined with the degradation of equipment

over the years; generate many consequences as

highlighted at the conference of Bourges [3].

Amongst these consequences, an increase in

water loss and multiplication in repairs which

induce an increase of operation costs require a

particular attention. It is therefore, necessary

to put in place mechanisms contributing to the

minimization of these operation costs. The

mechanisms will have to ensure the

conservation of information about the WSNs

in a sustainable way, as well as the daily

(JoRSG)

Journal of

Remote Sensing & GIS

ISSN 2230-7990 (Online)

ISSN 2321-421X (Print)

September–December 2016SJIF: 3.713

www.stmjournals.com

STM JOURNALSScientific Technical Medical