Use of ecosystem services and infrastructure services in sewage management programming. Example of Wielkopolska

The subject of this paper is assessment of services stimulated by sewage management on the regional and local level, which should support decisio-making processes. The objective of the study is to develop a theoretcal model of the structure of such services and verify whether the model could be employed to quantify services based on the example of the rural areas of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland Voivodeship). The developed theoretcal model shows the structure of concepts relevant to the performed study process, with focus on the economic dimension of sewage management improvement. The economic results comprise benefits and avoided costs related to the stimulation of ecosystem services as well as benefits arising from a better real estate infrastructure. Assessment of the value of services stimulated by sewage management for the region of Wielkopolska gives a general view of their economic significance. The highest amounts were obtained for infrastructure services (33,9 million PLN a year). Among ecosystem services, the most significant are those which determine recreational benefits (17,8 million PLN a year) and drinking water availability (13,9 million PLN a year). The results permit to compare and arrange spatial units in order of the value of services stimulated by sewage management. The total amount reaches its peak in the poviat of Poznań, being an area of the most intensive urbanisation and a hihg lake surface area rate