ASSESSMENT OF WATER SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE STATE IN RURAL AREAS IN POLAND USING MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

In the study the condition of the water supply infrastructure in rural areas in Poland was assessed. Research period covered the years 2003 and 2014. Through this period, the water supply infrastructure state was considerably improved. The improvement was mainly due to Polish accession to the European Union, therefore, the proper standards of water supply should be ensured, in order to adapt them to of the EU rights. The European community has supported Poland through all kinds of subsidies thanks to which water supply was expanded and a procedure of improvement was implemented. For performing research the multivariate comparative analysis – the agglomeration method and the k-means method - were used. The analysis covered the following parameters characterizing the development of the water supply infrastructure in rural areas: changes in length of water supply network, number of water supply connections, number of water treatment plants.In the last decade, the percentage of the population using water supply network increased by 13%, with biggest increase in Masovian (up to 32%) and in Lesser Poland (up to 26%) and the lowest was observed in the Opole province (up to 6%). In contrast, the costs associated with the development of water supply infrastructure in rural areas increased by 33%. The largest costs investment were incurred in the Greater Poland Region (380%) and in the Silesian province (260%). Increasing the development level of water supply infrastructure and consequently, the sewage infrastructure development will influence the tourism and investment attractiveness of rural areas.

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