Assessment of water supply and wastewater infrastructure development dynamics in Poland in the years 2003-2013

The paper presents an analysis of a chain index of water supply and wastewater infrastructure development dynamics in Poland in the years 2003-2013. The work aimed at determining the development index rate (relative growth) of water supply and sewage systems in Poland divided into 3 basic territorial units (rural, urban-rural and urban districts). Moreover, the paper describes the dynamics of changes concerning water consumption, share of population using water supplied by water supply systems, percentage of households possessing a bathroom and flush toilet and the share of population using sewage system during the analysed period. Conducted analyses used among others the chain index of dynamics to determine the rate of observed changes. The analysis revealed the greatest rate of changes for the indices characterising sewage system and the share of population using the system and wastewater treatment plants. Despite the fact that rural areas were characterized by definitely the highest values of the rate of changes and chain index of changes dynamics, the differences between rural and urban areas concerning water supply and wastewater infrastructure in Poland are still considerable.