Quest to provide safe water in villages

Climate change contributes to the problem of water scarcity and villagers often have no choice but to drink unsafe water. That, however, is set to change in a commune in Kampot province with the help of a EU-funded women’s project, writes Chea Vannak. The quality of water in Cambodia is a national problem, with UNICEF reporting in 2014 that 6.3 million out of 14.9 million Cambodians, nearly half of the population, lacked access to clean drinking water.

Unclean water may contain pathogens that cause waterborne illness like diarrhoea, which is the second leading cause of death for children under five years of age. To make matters worse, extreme weather as a result of climate change is likely to contribute to problems of water scarcity. In response to these dire problems, a group of women in Banteay Meas Kert commune in Kampot province’s Banteay Meas district, with funding from the European Union, have come together to set up a water treatment plant that enables the safe reuse of water, in times of water scarcity, to protect public health.

The group comprising nine women work in shifts through the day to run the Women’s Community Drinking Water Production Station which has been in operation for about a year. This drinking water production station is part of a $95,000 EU project with a two-year period of implementation that benefits 16 villages in four communes in Kampot and Kep provinces, according to Pai Sokoma, a technical adviser at the Disaster Management Committee. “We decided to choose Banteay Meas Kert commune because we found that it is the most affected area [by climate change] and there weren’t any NGOs offering assistance to the villagers here,” Mr Sokoma said.

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