Assessment findings for Kampong Thom District

[Getting ready for assessment]

General conclusion:

è The flooding is not new to Cambodia and problems related to flooding remained same over the years however this year the impact on vulnerable population is magnified due to the flood lasted longer and reached to the places where it never reached in last 15-17 years.

è The flood has aggravated the perennial-recurrent issues and this can be addressed well by long term support including some good DRR work in WATSAN sector.

è The poverty, lack of resources, poor governance, poor infrastructure and geographical disadvantaged have put this area in most vulnerable condition for past few years which is coupled with climate change as the flooding and erratic rainfall can be seen as evidence.

è The water sources are mainly River, Hand pumps, open wells and rain water harvesting structures.

è Most of the people are depended on river as a main source of water for drinking and other domestic usage for human as well as animals.

è The river carried all sorts of impurities, fecal coli forms due to human and animal excreta disposal in river, bio waste [dead animals], chemical impurities from rice field [manure residues, pesticides etc]. So water quality is extremely poor and mass population is at the risk of public health threat/ water born diseases. This issue further intensified due to poor hygiene practices.

è The reach of govt in terms of water quality related intervention is not seen on field [except in one village where ADB have joint water supply project with MoRD.] Oxfam and world vision have reached to these communities with some water filters and NFI support in recent years. So mainly the population in not well supported.

è The minimum coordination among various stack holders is observed during this assessment time.

è The latrines are not many, people do recognize the importance of the latrine but due to poverty they cant afford construction of latrines. They are living on day to day income and no spare money they have for latrines.

è The area from middle to up stream of Stung Tseng river the locations we chose are having serious arsenic and iron impurities hence the new source [well and tube wells] shall be taken with utmost care. More data collection and research shall be done in this regards.

Water Quantity:

è The water sources are mainly river, Hand pumps , open wells and rain water harvesting structures; the team hardly could see a serious problem related to quantity of water; however considering limitations of logistic, local skills, time frame, arsenic problems it is difficult to suggest for new source creation like wells and HP. We may look in to details of geo-hydrological details available for the area and then with multi stack holder we may make a call for new wells or hnad pumps where the arsenic / iron is serious concerns.

è The shallow wells and Rain water harvesting for high ground / evacuation places/schools is a good option to think of; this may serve as good evacuation place for future flooding. However this will only provide support to community during flooding conditions; the issues related to water quality during normal year remains.

è In Chrang Krahom village where we have seen broken piped water system can be taken up for repairs and ensuring safe water supply to all households.

è The place where ADB is installing water system some of the most poor family could not be connected as they have to contribure 15-16 USD [one time contribution] so we may think of providing some support to most poor/ most vulnerable in this case.

è During our visit we didn’t came across the “evacuation centre” however if it the case in other areas we can construct “Rain water harvesting structure”

Water Quality:

There are multiple suggestions for improving the quality of the water on a long term basis.

è The provision of portable domestic water filter can solve the problem to the great extent and can show us amazing results towards the Public Health improvement over long run.

è Provision of NFI for “HH safe water storage” and “handling potable water” shall be useful in this case.

è Demarcation of “drinking water” area for the village could help people to get “reasonably better water”. This shall be coupled with great community involvement and mobilization work.

è Construction of animal trough / drinking area for animal would help in reducing water contamination to some extent.

è Construction of communal bathing and toilets can further reduce the contamination.

è Construction of community water supply system [river intake, sedimentation, filtration, treatment, storage and distribution] can be the best long lasting solution in this case.

è Thru hygiene promotion we shall ensure “good water related hygiene practices”; especially “boiling water” and ‘”safe handling”.

è We may think of distribution of “halogen tablets/ chlorine tablets” to be used during “flood period”; this activity shall be coupled with hygiene promotion.

è Disinfection of wells / sources is not recommended due to high turbidity and iron/arsenic impurities problem.

è shall coordinate with MoRD/UNICEF/ MoH for the detailed report of the geo-hydrology for demarcation of area which falls under “serious” arsenic problem. Once data on hand we may look forward to abandoning the contaminated sources, creating public awareness about the “threats of arsenic” and use of those sources.

Coordination:

è The coordination in general and particularly for WATSAN is seriously lacking at district and provincial level, among iNGOs ; we can play a big role in this section.

Research:

è If there is lack of documentation on arsenic and iron impurities in the captioned area; this is the opportunity to conduct a small geo-hydrological research of the area.

Capacity building of stack-holders:

è Partners: We are having long term partners for CSPPM program so we can pace our “recovery” program and implement trru partners to see some “emergency recovery capacity” been injected in their systems and staff.

è Govt counterpart: Government is lacking capacity in terms of skills, knowledge and finance so we can think of pitching programs thru “partner” + “govt” structures to enhance the capacity building of govt. UNICEF can also be taken on board to achieve better results in this regards. We may think of organizing the technical trainings on “water quality”; providing them some “equipments” etc.

The team: