The DPSIR Model for Environmental Risk Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 1692
• Main Authors: Kazuva, Emmanuel, Zhang, Jiquan, Tong, Zhijun, Si, Alu, Na, Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 08.08.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Analytic hierarchy process; Artificial intelligence; Cities; Critical point; Developing countries; Ecological risk assessment; Environmental assessment; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental risk; External pressure; Government Regulation; Humans; Industrialized nations; Informal economy; International conferences; Laboratories; LDCs; Medical wastes; Municipal solid waste; Municipal waste management; Pollution; Pollution sources; Population; Pressure; Public Policy; Risk analysis; Risk Assessment; Solid Waste - analysis; Solid Waste - statistics & numerical data; Solid waste management; Solid wastes; Tanzania - epidemiology; Urban areas; Urbanization; Waste management; Waste Management - methods; Waste management industry; Water Pollution - analysis; Tanzania; Cities; China; risk assessment; urban environment; municipal solid waste; analytical hierarchy process; Dar es Salaam city; human health; DPSIR model
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15081692

Environmental risk has become an area of major concern and research, drawing special attention. This study on the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of Dar es Salaam Municipal Solid Waste comes at a time when the Government of Tanzania is becoming increasingly concerned about dealing with high levels of pollution from municipal solid waste (MSW). The paper employed the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to establish an environmental risk indicator system and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate and analyze risk values, based on the actual situation of MSW in the city of Dar es Salaam. It lists several measures that have been taken in response to the current significantly high levels of pollution, which have assisted in maintaining the environmental risk index (ERI) at a medium level (0.4⁻0.6) during the period from 2006⁻2017. However, these measures have not been adequate enough to manage the external pressure. The ERI has been increasing gradually, calling for timely formulation of demand-specific waste management policies to reduce the possibility of reaching the critical point in near future. With the use of the DPSIR model for ERA, this study has become highly valuable, providing empirical justification to reduce environmental risk from MSW, which is one of the main sources of environmental pollution in the urban areas of developing countries.