Journal of Ecological Engineering

Volume 17, Issue 1, Jan. 2016, pages 10–17

DOI: 10.12911/22998993/61184 Research Article

GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION

Medjon Hysenaj1

University of Shkoder, Sheshi 2 Prilli, Rruga Studenti 24, Shkoder, Albania, e-mail: mhysenaj@unishk.edu.al
1

Received: 2015.11.10 ABSTRACT

Accepted: 2015.12.09 The paper goal is to develop a spatial analyses of the most critical environmental is-
Published: 2016.01.06 sues in the country and how the population concerns could be addressed with the use
of spatial technologies. Population perception of environment management relies on
its minimum levels. In the recent past, static, fixed scale, multi use, highly accurate,
permanent, paper maps compiled over a short period of time was the norm, mean-
while today’s world uses a dynamic, single use, variable accuracy, variable scale,
digital product made from data possibly retrieved from database derived from mul-
tiple sources. The opportunity to combine spatial technology associated with numeri-
cal data leading to a structured and genuine analyzes of the country issues turns to be
an optimal strategy. We structure a set of digital maps encouraging decision-makers
to rely their performance on spatial tools. Coastline pollution stands as a top priority.
For the purpose of the analysis, the entire coastline was divided into sectors. Hence,
further investigations could be addressed toward space-time relationship to cover the
environmental evolution process, which may serve as an input for future predictions.

Keywords: coastline, geospatial analysis, environment pollution, spatial technology,

digital map.

INTRODUCTION urban discharges, sewage pipelines, irresponsible

human activity, etc. The shoreline suffers from
Environmental issues, such as water and air intense pollution where half of it is almost out of
pollution, waste management, deforestation, etc. any allowed parameter, inert have turned already
affect population health and also cause signifi- into a daily phenomenon, extended in major ar-
cant economic damage. We must proceed with a eas of the territory. As a result, the overall picture
constant monitor process which leads to healthy seems to be more than pessimistic. Geographic
stimuli of the population towards current phenom- information system technology is used to support
ena. The awareness of environmental issues stimu- and deliver information to environmental manag-
lates people’s perception regarding the surround- ers and the public. GIS allows the combination
ing environments [Douglas and Sasathorn, 2012]. and analysis of multiple layers of location-based
Through spatial technologies we create a healthy data, including environmental measurements
strategy to manage the root anomalies surrounding [Esri, 2010]. The paper aims to benefit from GIS
a human. GIS technologies offer a better solution utilities overlapping multiple layers reflecting dif-
to understand spatial phenomenon and also give a ferent themes to highlight specific issues. We pro-
clear picture of the periodical changes in time. duce interesting results through the combination
For air pollution several issues are indicated of environmental data versus spatial extension.
as primary factors, such as urbanization, old and Allocations such as:
amortized vehicles, uncontrolled factory process •• air pollution/population density;
including inert management, chaotic construc- •• urban waste/ population distribution;
tions, etc. Air contamination in the country varies •• fragmentation of the coastline,
2–3 times higher compared to other EU countries. to rearrange our decision-making model improv-
Soil and water pollution claims factors such as ing our future management strategy.

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EVALUATION STRATEGY ic distribution. Through digital maps we set a new

standard of environment evaluation which is more
We expose environment issues through spa- precise and objective. We aim to create a reason-
tial analysis. The country territory was catego- able background for decision-making regarding
rized into regional level, acting as a support layer. the environmental problem [Pior et al, 1997].
Further, we overlay thematic layers related to the
current issue.
The goal is to forehand population aware- AIR POLLUTION
ness by improving the communication process.
According to Larsen, the monitoring process is a The scenario from the first map overlays two
four step process (Figure 1). First, we gather data layers where the country territory is categorized
through a remote sensing process, generally satel- at district level with a scale map of 1 : 2 250 000.
lites cover this phase best [Larsen, 2005]. Rough The first layer indicates population density where
data must be processed for the purpose of consis- major districts have been taken into account as
tency evaluation, also verified for reliability and an input for further measurements in the second
updated information. As a final step, structured layer. LNP is one of the most important indicators
data must be ready to be analyzed by responsible related to the presence of dust particle (mg/m3) in
authorities with the goal to improve decision per- the air. We notice that all major districts exceed
formance and lead the management level into a the level defined by the EU by at least 2–3 times.
more sustainable standard. We must take measures to improve life qual-
On the other hand, data should act as an in- ity through short-term and long-term projects.
formative source for most of the population. The Since long-term projects require strict limits of in
goal of the paper is to present a set of digital maps place population movements, short-term projects
basically covering the three most important en- could be more appropriate through strict prevent-
vironment concerns, such as water, air and soil ing policy, also population awareness. We pres-
management. Through the country territory we ent the LNP indicator for air pollution through a
consider the regions with the largest area or the comparative schema toward the European Union
highest population density to express the outcome level (Figure 2).
of air and waste measurements, compared to the
European Union levels. As for water management
we analyzed the most frequented coastline sectors. SOIL POLLUTION
Environmental management is inherently a
spatial endeavor. Its data are particularly complex For the second case, we introduce a set of
as they require two descriptors; namely, precise vector based areas derived from GADM (Global
location of what is being described, as well as a Administrative Areas). The geographic coordi-
clear description of its physical characteristics nate system is GCS_WGS_1984 and the datum
[Joseph, 1999]. The web GIS is an extension and D_WGS_1984. The map uses a 1:2.250.000 map-
application of client/server computing, where the ping scale. We offer the relation between waste
geospatial data is accessible in a shareable envi- generation and population deployment. Waste
ronment [Harish et al, 2007]. Through geo-tools management is considered a problematic issue
we aim to define statistically that part of popula- that requires improved operational performance
tion which is mostly exposed to any pollution level in the future by the responsible authority. The
(air, water, soil, etc) based on a specific geograph- digital map presents the urban waste diffusion

Figure 1. Monitor process of environment issues through GIS technology [Larsen 2005]

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 17(1), 2016

Figure 2. Measurement of air pollution, spatial extension – Region level (software: ArcMap 10)
[Ministry of Environment]

through a spatial distribution at regional level fied category which can be controlled and well
(Figure 3). The results are somewhat expected. managed.
The areas with minimum waste exploitation are The third scenario (Figure 4) presents the
those with a low number of population. Broadly, country coastline divided into 6 major zones, ac-
the higher the population distribution, the more cording to the visiting frequency. Coliform bacte-
obvious the critical issue of urban waste man- ria have been used to evaluate the quality of water.
agement. Two other groups of bacteria that are present in
feces are: fecal streptococci (FS) and Clostridium
(FC) [12]. The analyzed data of FS-50 and FC-50
COASTLINE POLLUTION indicators for water pollution claim the fact that
half of the Albanian shoreline suffers from severe
Many coastal ecosystems still remain ad- water pollution, meanwhile, the other half need
versely affected by current land-use practices urgent intervention to become appropriate.
and the ever-growing demand for coastal lands As we notice from the map 3 is the most in-
from urbanization. And unfortunately, the recent fected area where most of the checkpoints go
economic recession is expected to provide only beyond the EU zone normative. Zone 5 is con-
temporary respite in the trend of coastal land take sidered the cleanest area in the country also sup-
[Czerniak et al., 2011]. ported by frequency statistics. Every year we no-
In both developed and developing countries, tice a great influx of visitors into zone 5, which is
the coastal zone is likely to undergo the most pro- not a solution; because it can put into question its
found change in the near future [Niya, 2013]. The natural pure sea quality in the future. Responsible
two primary factors for coastline change remains authorities need to settle severe policy guides to
natural process and human intervention. Natural normalize and create a more equitable distribu-
factors remain great forces that are hard to man- tion of visitors throughout the whole country
age, while human processes belong to the classi- coastline. Further, we fragment the country coast-

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Figure 3. Measurement of urban waste, spatial extension – Region level (software: ArcMap 10)
[Ministry of Environment]

Figure 4. Measurement of coastline pollution, spatial extension – Region level (software: ArcMap 10)
[Ministry of Environment]

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 17(1), 2016

line to describe in detail the water coastline pollu- tion of natural resources which will close develop-
tion and the associated check points. ment options. It is generally expected that Remote
Sensing and GIS techniques and instruments will
be of increasing importance in coastline and coast-
COASTLINE CHECKPOINT
al zone management [Heuvel et al, 2009].
The study analyzes performed measures on 70 Through GIS technologies we intend to esti-
check point over the Albanian coastline. The goal mate the coastline situation creating a full picture
is to define the most problematic areas concern- overview of the current condition. This knowl-
ing pollution values [MEFWA, 2014]. We obtain edge will enable coastal planners, inhabitants and
36 problematic areas with high risk of bacteria, decision makers to better understand and evaluate
translated in other words half of the coastline is the current situation with the goal of improving
unsuitable to frequent. The primary reason that in- the list of necessary steps to be undertaken.
duces the verified situation is the uncontrolled ur- Our investigation takes into consideration the
banization phenomenon near these areas followed values from Public Health Institute, which has set a
by unplanned investments, eager to benefit at the limit of 100. Digital maps have been structured ac-
expense of coastal space leading to the degrada- cording to the coastline frequency and geographic

Table 1
FC-50, FS-50 values
Check
FC-50 FS-50
Point
1 40 23
2 35 24
3 33 20
4 29 14
5 48 27
6 34 22
7 33 20
Average 36 21
Norma
100 100
100 ml

Figure 5. Albania coastal pollution, study zone: Velipojë (software: Package ArcGIS, ArcMap 10)
[Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration]

Table 2
FC-50, FS-50 values
Check
FC-50 FS-50
Point
8 85 45
9 128 87
10 56 20
11 83 36
12 46 19
Average 80 41
Norma
100 100
100 ml

Figure 6. Albania coastal pollution, study zone: Shëngjin (software: Package ArcGIS, ArcMap 10)
[Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration]

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 17(1), 2016

location. Second hand beaches have been grouped ceptable parameters. Out of 11 measured check
for study reason. As source map we use a vector points, 7 seem to have good quality water (Table
based map under the GCS_WGS_1984 projection 5). Still, if we look carefully, there is especially
will a scale of 1:400.000. We notice that (Figure one zone that exceeds the limit by 15 times and
5, 6) the northern coast covering two important three more by 3 or 4 times.
beaches, Velipoja and Shëngjin, is considered an Not by chance, Dhërmi, Himarë and Borsh
acceptable area to frequent. From the 12 measured (Figure 9) are the cleanest beaches. According
check points only Shëngjin beach contain one criti- to the map and the corresponding values the
cal area that exceeds the allowed limit (Table 1, 2). average of the measured parameters (Table 6),
If we move geographic down the territory FC = 9.8 and FS = 7.5, ranks them among the
(Figure 7) in the central zone of the Albanian most attractive areas by native and foreigners.
coastline we face a serious situation. The gener- They act as point of reference.
ated values induce us in categorizing Durrës and The southern beach of Saranda ends the coun-
many parts of Kavaja beach among the areas with try coastline. Based on the map (Figure 10) and
the highest risk factor. As we clearly check from the relevant table (Table 7) we conclude that the
the map and the relevant table, most of the val- situation doesn’t seem to improve joining the pes-
ues not only exceed the defined normative but simistic overview created by the overall panora-
boost by multiple times the limit of 100. All of ma of the whole country shoreline. Mapping the
the 21 check points that belong to Durrës beach coastline situation is a mandatory input of vital
are considered inappropriate to be visited (Table importance for further decision-making progress
3). As for Kavaja shoreline the situation seems to [Hysenaj, 2011]. We insist on leading further digi-
be more optimistic in half of the coast but still tal mapping projects to investigate environmental
the other half needs urgent intervention (Table 4). issues for the benefit of population welfare. The
According to these values, we can rank these im- application of GIS and remote sensing techniques
portant beaches as the most polluted areas in the to monitor coastline change should be carried out
whole Albanian coastline. Moving into the south jointly with routine observatory work in order to
the situation seems to improve. Many areas in improve our understanding of the environmental
Vlora beaches (figure 8) are adaptable with ac- problematic [Tang, 2002].

Table 3
FC-50, FS-50 values
Ch. P. FC-50 FS-50
1 1073 669
2 906 687
3 679 435
4 640 591
5 455 424
6 281 206
7 247 194
8 199 161
9 186 142
10 171 135
11 162 124
12 162 107
13 154 118
14 151 104
15 142 118
16 140 93
17 130 95
18 121 92
19 118 88
20 115 72
Ch. P. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 21 114 81
FC-50 54 91 95 112 112 159 318 325 404 460 Average 271 226
Norma
FS-50 20 38 39 56 50 56 256 177 296 326 100 100
100 ml
Figure 7. Albania coastal pollution, study zone: Durrës, Kavajë

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Table 4
FC-50, FS-50 values
Check
FC-50 FS-50
Point
1 355 317
2 437 318
3 1519 1304
4 466 429
5 41 23
6 33 23
7 28 16
8 23 12
9 24 14
10 38 19
11 23 14
Average 271 226
Norma
100 100
100 ml
Figure 8. Study zone: Vlorë

Table 5
FC-50, FS-50 values
Check
FC-50 FS-50
Point
1 9.1 6.5
2 11 7.1
3 12.3 9.5
4 13 18
5 8 6
6 5 3
7 9 7
8 8 5
9 11 7
10 12 7
Average 9.8 7.5
Norma
100 100
100 ml
Figure 9. Study zone: Dhërmi, Himarë, Borsh

Table 6
FC-50, FS-50 values
Check
FC-50 FS-50
Point
1 29 16
2 30 19
3 124 103
4 146 121
5 69 58
6 670 580
Average 178 150
Norma
100 100
100 ml

Figure 10. Study zone: Sarandë

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The overall picture reveals that the measured encourage for further investigations through spa-
indicators exceed quite often the normative val- tial-time relationship. An environment process
ues settled by the EU. The maps are particularly will be fully analysed when we combine current
useful due to their performance to combine spa- analysis carrying the complete knowledge back-
tial extension with statistical data. Multiple layer ground of its evolution process. By so we can im-
overlay improves the endeavor to manage envi- prove our current and future policy.
ronmental pollution for the developed analysis.

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