Rapid impact assessment matrix (RIAM) analysis as decision tool to select new site for municipal solid waste disposal: A case study of Dehradun city, India

• The selection of site for waste disposal is an important task of waste management system.
• The ecological, physical, biological, social/cultural and economic are considered as major components in RIAM system.
• Rapid impact assessment matrix (RIAM) may be a precise tool to identify the impact of waste disposal project.
• Environmental score under RIAM analysis helps as decision supporting tool.

The selection of appropriate site for creation of new MSW disposal facility is an important task of waste management engineering. The ecological, social and economical issues pertaining to new project should be analyzed in order to measure the overall impact of the new waste disposal project. In this study rapid impact assessment matrix (RIAM) which comes under one of the options of environmental impact assessment (EIA) was used to see the overall rating of the site to establish a possible new MSW disposal site for the city. The suitability of the site was evaluated considering ecological, social, cultural and economical as components in decision support system. Different components were used to produce a cumulative score, i.e. environmental score (ES) for each option of the site for the new project. Results suggests that RIAM can be a reliable tool to identify the suitability of the site for MSW disposal facility creation in accordance with ecological, physical, biological, social/cultural and economic quality of the project. In this city, for physical/chemical component the forest distribution was the major factor in site selection while biological/ecological components showed the negative impact of project in all sub-sectors. Socio-cultural and economical components showed the different ranges of ES. This study extends the possibility of utilizing RIAM as tool in decision supporting system for establishing MSW disposal facilities in any urban center.