Solid Waste Planning and Transportation: challenges in implementing GIS in rural areas

Transcription

1 Solid Waste Planning and Transportation: challenges in implementing GIS in rural areas Laura Stiller Barbara L. Maclennan Sue Bergeron Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority

2 Mon County Solid Waste Authority Self-Sufficient No tax monies No landfill monies 1.2 acres Processing About 50 trucks per day bring commodities Private haulers and businesses Does not count public drop off locations (8) 2 driver shifts to drop off About 20,000 tons a week Partnership with Marion County Grew 1,000% in 3 years Distribution Local and regional businesses Long distance haulers about 4 per day Markets 2 nd largest WV commodities /markets Only one able to handle all colors glass Could handle higher number plastics locally Could handle prescription bottles Could handle plastic film

3 How is solid waste transportation? Hauling Local haulers Long distance haulers Transportation over North America Recyclables provide ballast and extra income Brokers and Mills Processing and Distribution Centers Recycling centers do processing & distribution Transportation Constraints in West Virginia No free-market for hauling solid waste/recyclables Not supported by taxes No urban areas Few interstate routes Few regional processing & distribution centers In the works Model regional processing & distribution center Updated Hauler GIS

4 Economic Development Reduce Cost of Waste Disposal Mon County recycled 4,500 tons in FY If this same amount were landfilled, the tipping fees alone would be $270,000 Job Creation Community Improvement Benefits to Hauler Ballast and extra money on hauling Better infrastructure increases manufacturing Benefits to Resident Benefits to Municipality

5 Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority GIS (MCSWA GIS) Design Goals Develop a GIS that could be utilized in both day-to-day operations at the MCSWA and in long-range planning Demonstrate how solid waste and recycling could be integrated with other government services to create a comprehensive GIS management and planning tool Data Collection Identify and map local and regional recycling drop-off locations and resources Identify and map waste hauler territories and routes Identify and map relevant data related to environmental issues, such as open dumps, water quality, etc. Develop demographic layers to aid in improving recycling service and planning for increased demand, such as business locations and type

6 MCSWA GIS geodatabasedesign Base Data Layers Administrative boundaries Hydrography Transportation Recycling Data Layers Recycling drop-off locations Recycling centers Regional recycling businesses and markets Environmental Data Layers Open Dump sites Landfills (open and close) EPA registered facilities National PollutantDischargeElimination System (NPDES) Planning and Demographic Data Layers Business locations and type Census demographic data Waste Hauler Data Layers Waste Hauler territories (tariffs) Waste Hauler routes (in progress) Waste Hauler service addresses (in progress)

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9 Creating Waste Hauler Data Layers Digitizing narrative tariffs Interpreting text descriptions of location and generating specific GIS data layers Resolving ambiguities in descriptions Developing a route layer Determining streets and roads that fall within hauler territories Generating a line layer for each hauler Developing a service address layer Address only, no names to protect privacy

10 Digitizing Waste Hauler Tariffs: Challenges and Issues Waste hauling conceived and regulated as both a utility and a motor carrier All WV businesses and households are required to have trash pickup service No unified system for identifying and mapping waste hauler routes or service addresses Interpret text descriptions filed with tariffs Tariff authorities often date back for decades Are drawn up and executed as text documents, no maps are required or submitted No consistent language or geographical boundaries used in descriptions Widely varying level of detail in descriptions of WV Public Service Commission does not maintain a master map to determine if the tariff descriptions are accurate or comprehensive Resolve ambiguous terms side roads what defines a side road How far down a side road that connect to another road? Resulting polygons are not related to a master data set and can not be considered authoritative for management purposes Polygons do not indicate specific roads or locations, nor ensure that all addresses are served Overlaps and missing areas Local haulers sometimes make informal agreements to resolve disputes that are not reflected in official tariff authorities WV Public Service Commission, Motor Carrier Division also maintains a separate system of records, known as blue cards to determine route authority for waste haulers that do not necessarily agree with tariff boundaries

11 Generating a waste hauler territory polygon - example Initial description those points and places in Marion County, east of I-79, that are located within a radius of five (5) miles of the intersection between I- 79 and W Va. Route 310

12 Generating a waste hauler territory polygon - example excluding the following points and places: (a) those points and places that are located to the east of Little Creek; (b) those points and places that are located to the north of Marion County Route 76;

13 Final waste hauler territory polygon layer After all exclusions enumerated in the textual description were applied, the remaining polygons represent the waste hauler territory as described in the tariff

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15 Mapping Waste Hauler Routes After completing waste hauler territory GIS layer, determined that polygon layers were not sufficient Initially, an intersect operation was utilized to select the roads and streets contained within each waste hauler territory A preliminary line layer was generated indicating the streets and roads served by each hauler Accuracy issues with the waste hauler tariff boundaries also affect the route layer

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17 Mapping Waste Hauler Service Addresses After reviewing the waste hauler territory digitization process, it was determined that the highest level of accuracy could be obtained by mapping individual service addresses for each waste hauler Waste haulers are required by WV law to provide customer lists to ensure that all households and businesses comply with trash service requirements Addresses can be geocoded(without customer names) to determine what locations are served by each hauler Currently working with test data sets for several haulers to generate a service address data layer

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19 Future work Continue to develop GIS data layers for waste hauler service addresses Utilize service address data to develop accurate route data Utilize MCSWA GIS data layers in the development of new management and collaboration tools, such as 3D digital city models