Chlorine incident and its toxic hazardous chemical release impact in the area surrounding a swimming-pool using GIS.

Chlorine is a liquefied gas, and is stored in large quantities for use in the chemical industry or in water treatment (e.g. the chlorination of swimming-pool water). Chlorine is highly toxic and if released accidentally has the potential to kill or injure people in the vicinity of the storage tank. A geographic information system (GIS) is used to determine the impact of the release of chlorine from a tank in the area surrounding a swimming-pool at the University Putra Malaysia (UPM). Spatial impact is determined using GIS software (GeoMedia Professional 5.1). Spatial analysis and buffering command are performed to locate affected residential areas near the UPM swimming-pool. The findings mean that the affected residential area and its population can be evacuated more quickly and smoothly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]