Tasks of local public services for environmental protection

For the best quality of life in modern metropolitan areas it is more and more important to correctly plan the activities of some fundamental public services (energy, transport, waste management, water); the aspects of the trust of services to public or private companies must be defined from the point of view of technical and organization requirements in order to obtain the best service realisation and at the same time a good approach to environmental protection. These requirements have been examined with particular reference to the organisation of the water cycle and to the management of waste collection and disposal, in account of the particular influence of these sectors on the indicated aspect of environmental protection. The most important aspects that must be defined are: - object of the service - instruments - tariff - monitoring - planning These aspects are examined as general requirements, and they are also discussed with particular reference to Italian situation.