Geographical‐Based Sewerage Needs Prioritization of Rural Areas: A Case Study of Wielkopolska Region (Poland)

Abstract

Currently, the global challenges concerning access to basic sanitation mostly relate to rural areas. Despite encouraging progress in regards to this, the world is still far from meeting the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation. Due to the vast and growing investment needs in the sector and budgetary limits, hard choices are entailed in the allocation of public funds, including their assignment to different geographical regions. The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology prioritization for sewerage infrastructure in rural areas, taking into account both the current state of the sewage management system in place and geographical factors related to said system. A set of factors describing the environmental and settlement differentiation has been proposed in terms of the commissioning of sewage management. Environmental factors include various types of water protection and nature conservation areas. Factors of spatial settlement structure include the size, concentration, and shape of built-up areas. These factors were used to classify 207 rural areas in Wielkopolska (Poland), in regards to the investment needs for sewage management. The study provides a useful strategic decision-making tool for assigning priorities and determining the financial distribution of support for investment projects from public funds. It is a proposal for good sewage management practices, aimed at the utilization of solutions, which combine ecological effectiveness and economic efficiency to the fullest extent possible.