Location
Trodait Village and Koma Village, Sampong Chey District, Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia
Community Description
Sampong Chey district is located at the border dividing Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom Province, approximately 80 km north of Phnom Penh. Trodait Village and Koma Village, though only 3 km from the national highway, have no paved roads, and as with many rural villages in Cambodia, several families share access to a single well to meet their water needs.
Problem Addressed
The roads are terribly muddy and flooded during the rainy season, causing many of the families farthest from the wells great distress in having to bring back water for their daily needs. Furthermore, most of the more distant families consist of elderly women who look after young grandchildren whose parents are off in Thailand or bigger cities to work in factories or fields.
Because the women are physically unfit to carry the water themselves and the children are too young, they often resort to using nearby water sources, which are frequently dirty ponds that gather fecal matter from animals and are infested with mosquitoes, exacerbating health issues.
Project Description
This project is to build two wells, one in Trodait Village and the other in Koma Village. The wells will provide for the water needs of the people, including for drinking, cooking, washing clothes, sanitation, and hygiene.
A local company will be contracted to machine-drill the hand-pumped well, approximately 25-35 m deep, in order to ensure access to water year-round.
Included in the construction will be a concrete lining as well as a runoff area and soak pit.
Water Charity funds will be used to purchase materials and pay the drilling contractor.
Community members will participate in the project by raising funds for an electric pump to be used to transport water to fill cisterns located at the homes.
Project Impact
This project will provide easy access to potable water for about 60 people.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Andrea Lim
Monitoring and Maintenance
Post-construction, water samples from each well will be tested for potability. Several community members will work together with the Peace Corps Volunteer to ensure the continued maintenance of the wells.
Training on safe drinking water will be conducted, and local high school students and the PCV will work together to educate village members on the benefits of growing a home vegetable garden, which can utilize runoff water from the well.
Comments
This is an important project that will give access to safe water for a number of impoverished families. The project is designed to be sustainable into the future. As an added benefit, the re-use of the water for agricultural purposes opens the potential for economic development.
This project has been funded by WHOLE WORLD Water as part of the Water Charity WHOLE WORLD Water Program – Cambodia.
This project has been completed! To read about the results CLICK HERE.
