The commissioner of this thesis is the Environmental Protection Unit of the City of Riihimäki, which is the municipal environmental protection authority in Riihimäki. The aim of the thesis was to improve regulatory control related to Water Services Act (119/2001), more closely to the control of the obligation to connect a property to the network of a water supply plant and management of wastewater services. Upon application, the municipal environmental protection authority may grant an exemption from the connection obligation.

The theory applied in thesis consists of the legislation related to water services and public administration in general, such as the Water Services Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Environmental Protection Act. Other significant part of the theory consists of process development theory. The method used in this thesis is process development. The thesis uses process developing steps from defining the processes to developing and measuring them.

Conclusion of the thesis is that the main development issues are related to document managing and better use of electronic services. In the future the public sector is moving more and more towards electronic services and communication and this provides a huge opportunity to make the processes more rapid, smooth and effective.