Abstract
The chapter provides an overview of the origin and development of the public utility system through different epochs in the development of human civilization. The old century is characterized by the emergence of significant architectural achievements related to the public utility system. The darkest period in the history of human civilization was the Middle Ages, in which there was stagnation in the development of the public utility system. In the new century, the process of planning in cities and equipping them with communal infrastructure all over the world begins. The modern public utility system is characterized by the application of the latest technologies, innovations, and knowledge to improve the quality of life of the population and the effects of environmental protection, which requires monitoring through the development of performance indicators. The methodological framework of this research is based on cluster analysis using Ward's method, where the selected countries will be grouped into clusters.
TopIntroduction
Water right is one of the basic human rights. Globally, for many people, especially those living in the poorest parts of the world, this basic human right is still unavailable. Among other things, water supply systems have not been built everywhere, but also because water reserves are being depleted or have already been completely exhausted in some places. Water as such is, therefore, much more than a simple communal need. It is an overly sensitive and limited resource that needs to be preserved and, to preserve it, should be treated with the utmost care. From the point of view of the local community, regular water supply is the first and most important communal function that should be established not only in urban and urbanized settlements but also in rural areas. In addition to water supply systems that provide the population with the basic prerequisites for life, a system for channeling, removal, and purification of wastewater discharged by consumers should be established. For now, only the most developed countries have established complete control over wastewater, while in most parts of the world, is mostly discharged in an insufficiently controlled manner and without any purification (Vranjanac et al., 2022). Thus, untreated wastewater is “mixed” and pollutes otherwise limited sources of drinking water, thus making the water problem even more difficult. Those extremely significant communal needs for water should be met in a long-term sustainable way. In such a way that water is not viewed only as a communal product and service, but as a particularly valuable resource that, if we do not treat it properly, will simply not exist one day. Public utilities have a significant impact on the quality of life of users in urban areas. Public utility companies provide various products and services to users, which improve their quality of life and environment owing to the fact that utility companies must provide services of satisfactory quality. That quality is significantly decided by the user's requirements, their real possibilities (first financial), and needs (Janaćković et al., 2017). The price of public utilities is of crucial importance for local communities, which is why it is important to take care of when figuring it out it. The methodology for pricing utility services must contain all significant elements in order to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in local communities in a long-term sustainable manner (Vranjanac & Spasić, 2017). This means that utility companies must orient themselves to market conditions, while the local community must devote itself to environmental effects. The local self-government unit must be the mediator in achieving this balance (Filipović & Krnjeta, 2013).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Performance: The term performance refers to a socially constructed performance of an observed phenomenon and pertains to the level of success of a task or operation.
Ward Method: This is a special type of agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique that was introduced by Ward in 1963. Unlike the linkage method, Ward’s method doesn’t define the distance between clusters and is used to generate clusters that have minimum within-cluster variance. Instead of using distance metrics, it approaches clustering as an analysis of the variance problem.
Hierarchical Clustering: A belief that one's own culture is superior to other cultures.
Agglomeration Schedule: The agglomeration schedule shows the amount of error created at each clustering stage when two different objects – cases in the first instance and then clusters of cases – are brought together to create a new cluster. A large jump in the value of the error term indicates that two different things have been brought together and that there is a significant typology at that level of fusion.
Levene STATISTIC: A situation that the variance is equal for at least one pair of samples.
Dendrogram: It represents a tree and illustrates the objects grouped.
Proximity Matrix: In hierarchical clustering, we have a concept called a proximity matrix. This stores the distances between each point.
Indicator: The term indicator originates from the Latin verb indicare (show, point to, indicate) and the related Latin noun indicator (someone who points out). Indicators are tools that show a specific state or changes in a specific state. Indicators and indexes (Lat. index) are tools meant to reduce a large amount of data to a simple form while preserving the essence of those data with added compactness and clear understanding.