3.7 million people don't have clean water close to home.
3.7 million people don't have clean water close to home.
That's more than 1 in 5 people.
3.9 million people don't have a decent toilet of their own.
3.9 million people don't have a decent toilet of their own.
That's almost a quarter of the population.
Almost 500 children under the age of five die a year from diarrhoea
Almost 500 children under the age of five die a year from diarrhoea
caused by dirty water, and poor toilets and hygiene.
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.
