4.8 million people don't have clean water.
4.8 million people don't have clean water.
That's 1 in 4 people.
5.2 million people lack a decent toilet.
5.2 million people lack a decent toilet.
That's a third of the population.
Almost 200 children under five die a year from diarrhoea.
Almost 200 children under five die a year from diarrhoea.
Caused by dirty water and poor toilets.
But Cambodians are resilient and resourceful people. They have found ways to float entire communities on lakes and harvest crops on vast flood plains. This creative approach fuels our work.
What does WaterAid do in Cambodia?
We have helped to develop innovative solutions by working with local partners and other organisations. From floating toilets to specially designed handwashing stations in hospitals, together we’re helping to change daily life for the better.
Clean water, greener gardens
In Prek Bei, around 900 people struggle to make a living from small-scale farming. Lack of water services and toilets has added greatly to local poverty.
Until recently, the only way to get regular water here was to order it by the bottle from a travelling truck. Quality was questionable, and prices were high.
The water deliveries were also less than punctual. “Sometimes the truck didn't come for two days,” says Krowh Phong, 75.
The expense and difficulty of living this way put a limit on what people could achieve.
This changed dramatically when, together with our local partners DDSP – who focus on helping people with disabilities in Cambodia – we installed a community well.
Phong is delighted: “Now I have water, I can grow vegetables to cook and sell at market, like pumpkin and lemongrass and others.”
Innovation in floating villages
For the 100,000 people who live on Tonlé Sap, the lake is their lifeblood. We helped to trial the Handypod, which filters toilet waste through a floating hyacinth garden before it goes back to the lake - keeping the water clean for other uses like cleaning and fishing.
