Farmers wade through rice paddies all day yet lack clean drinking water in their homes in this recently established agricultural community of Bassac Commune, some 250 km north-west of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. A new project being delivered through the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility has secured private sector funding for piped water infrastructure that promises to meet resident’s basic needs while building resilience and strengthening the community’s adaptation to climate change.

Tackling water supply issues came to a head last year when a deluge of heavy rain resulted in a burst dam and widespread floods, shocking residents with their force and devastation. A decision by the Cambodian Department of Water Resources Management to renovate and upgrade the dam was widely welcomed, but it didn’t solve a longstanding problem for the community: accessing clean, reliable and affordable drinking water.

“Up to now, this area does not have safe water,” said Ms Klang Sina as she sits in front of her community shop, which stocks an array of safe-to drink but small and relatively expensive bottled water.

“The people have no choice but to use the water from the canal …[or] they have to buy it from the water truck.”

The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, or LoCAL, is a mechanism for financing locally led climate adaptation that launched in Cambodia in 2011. To date almost half of the Cambodian population have benefitted from LoCAL climate adaptation actions, with more to follow as LoCAL rolls out nationwide. LoCAL uses an innovative system of Performance Based Climate Resilience Grants to channel finance to local governments for locally led adaptation. And, in a first for LoCAL, the Bassac Commune water infrastructure project uses a public-private partnership to boost available funds for more ambitious and resilient adaptation investments.

“Before 2000, there was no road and development – so water wasn’t an issue since there were only a few people,” explains Ms Sina whose family was one of the first to move to the area, which is experiencing unpredictable rainfall patterns linked to climate change. “But now there are a lot of farmers putting chemicals in fields along the canal – the water pollution has led to many health issues.”

The situation is more dire in the dry season, when even the few families fortunate enough to have access to a well struggle to pump enough of the murky and muddy water to meet their household’s needs. Then, the entire community is forced to rely on a private supplier delivering water by truck – but it’s expensive and the water has to be boiled before drinking.

“The project will take the water from the reservoir, [and it] is going to be filtered so that you can use it directly,” explained Mr Sea Sy, Chief of Bassac Commune, which lies in Rukh Kiri District. “People will spend less and they will save a lot of time. They will not be waiting and wondering if or when the water truck will come. This will also reduce water-related illnesses. It will reduce poverty.”

The ‘Innovative Decentralized Water Solutions to Provide Safety and Resilience for Residential Water Systems’ project is a joint action from Cambodia’s National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS), the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, The Korea Water Resources Corporation, (K-Water) and UN Capital Development Fund operating through LoCAL. Launched in 2021, the project has a budget of US $1,5 M from Korea with technical assistance provided jointly by K-Water and UNCDF.

The project builds on the asset of the newly renovated dam by adding a water filtration station and pumping system to deliver clean water direct to the nine villages in Bassac Commune, home to some 1,865 families.

To ensure long-term sustainability, the project is both public- and community-owned and operated, with the potential to generate cashflow through water tariffs and user fees. Water prices are to be fixed by the government at around 2,600 riels or 55 US cents per cubic meter. Residents are looking forward to massive savings, as water delivered by truck costs as much as US$ 7.50 per cubic meter.

Local government representatives welcome the project and the benefits foreseen for the local community but are aware that their private sector partners need to turn a profit to make the investment work. They’re determined that through good coordination, all parties can work together and be satisfied with the project outcomes.

“Until now our people faced the challenge of just finding water on a daily basis, let alone having safe water to drink. So it is a great opportunity for the local government to pilot this project. We look forward to the prospect of being able to provide clean water to the people,” said Mrs Baen Bolin, the newly appointed governor of Rukh Kiri District. “For the government, there is no interest to make profit; but the private investors are here to make profit. Since it is the first time [that we engaged in a project like this] it is important to have good coordination.”

This project is implemented by the NCDDS with the support of our partners:

Click here for a micro-site presentation of this project

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