Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

Please send your paper by e-mail: _Z]%7laIY1&Kqy{MAu!Xk9jBHF-]#[WJPm{[I67|i=e6s8}~uPtyO4Q3t 

Please send 2 files:

(1) the main text without the title of the article and the authors (DOC/DOCX file) and

(2) the title page including: the title of the paper, the authors and their affiliation (DOC/DOCX file).

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Number of Results 1

WP(3/2012)69. Municipal Wastewater Treatment in Poland - Efficiency, Costs and Returns to Scale

Authors: Berbeka Krzysztof, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Markowska Agnieszka
The paper reports the costs of municipal wastewater collection and treatment in Poland based on an empirical sample of 1400 operators. Treatment cost functions are investigated econometrically using the Box-Cox regression model, indicating high non-l…

WP69. Municipal Wastewater Treatment in Poland - Efficiency, Costs and Returns to Scale

The paper reports the costs of municipal wastewater collection and treatment in Poland based on an empirical sample of 1400 operators. Treatment cost functions are investigated econometrically using the Box-Cox regression model, indicating high non-linearity and significant scale effects. Wastewater treatment costs are increasing with technology efficiency (moving from the primary, through the secondary, to the tertiary treatment), and decreasing with higher wastewater treatment plant capacity. Combining treatment and collection costs with treatment efficiency allows estimation of costs and potentials for reducing the nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to rivers by improving the efficiency of wastewater treatments plants, or building new ones, on an aggregated country-wide scale. Therefore, our results provide valuable input into any cost-benefit analyses of nutrient loadings reduction through extending or upgrading municipal wastewater treatment systems.


Berbeka Krzysztof, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Markowska Agnieszka
municipal wastewater treatment costs scale effects nutrient loadings reductions nitrogen phosphorus
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