Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS vol 7 issue 3

(JoRSG)
Journal of
Remote Sensing
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ISSN 2230-7990 (Online)
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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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STM JOURNALS

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, Ethiopia
Demeke 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
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,

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

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 Naqvi2,
*, A.S. Mohammed Abdul Athick2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia
2
Department 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
m3
.
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 Delphine2
, Moha EL-AYACHI3
,
Kamguia Joseph2
1
National Institute of Cartography, Division of Mapping work, Service of Surveying, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
2
National Institute of Cartography, Yaoundé, Cameroon
3
School 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

Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS vol 7 issue 3

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Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS vol 7 issue 3