The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) is resolving water shortages experienced by nearly 30,000 people in Prey Sar commune of the capital’s Dangkor district before next year’s dry season.
PPWSA director-general Long Naro made the remarks at a June 9 press conference, called to give an update on the supply of clean water in Phnom Penh.
“We are addressing shortages in the Prey Sar area between national roads 2 and 3, where PPWSA water services are available. I estimate that it is similar to the Kamboul and Chhouk Va II areas,” he said, referring to Kamboul district and a residential community in Por Sen Chey district on the outskirts.
“In Prey Sar commune, there are between 20,000 and 30,000 customers facing shortages. For [Prey Sar] to have adequate water supply, we have to collect water from other areas. Every day we are carrying out this work feverishly to ensure that by next year’s dry season, the families in this area are no longer lacking water. We are focused on this region from now on,” he added.
Phnom Penh now has enough water because water levels have risen due to this year’s rainy season, with PPWSA able to pump more than 650,000 cubic metres a day, Naro noted.
“So there is only this one area in Prey Sar commune where we have a shortage to tackle. We are now preparing to carry out the work to address it,” he said.
Naro said PPWSA has new water calibration technology, which can take the pressure off water use in certain areas, with a computerised system that can calculate areas with weak water pressure or that are lacking water.
Prey Sar commune chief Khat Sokhai said on June 14 that the commune consisted of 12 villages and 4,000 households, 20 of whom had only recently come to live there and had yet to be connected to the water supply network.
“The water runs a bit better at night, but in the daytime, it runs so slowly that people in some villages can hardly use it, having to wait until night time to have water to use,” he said, noting that most people in the commune had been connected to the PPWSA water network since 2020.
Sokhai said he was pleased to hear that the PPWSA was resolving the issues in his commune, and was optimistic there would soon no longer be a water shortage.
