Improvement of water supply for the poor : a case study of the Dangkao District of Phnom Penh, Cambodia | |
| Author | Seak Pengkeang |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-02-13 |
| Subject(s) | Urban poor--Cambodia Water-supply--Cambodia |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Rapid urbanization in Phnom Penh city has brought a big pressure on the water supply authority to expand the service to cope with the need of water for the whole city. The shortage of water falls primarily on the poor and those who live in peril-urban areas of Phnom Penh, especially Dangkao. The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) is responsible for water supply in Phnom Penh. Water supply situation has improved a lot in the core urban areas of Phnom Penh, but about half of the poor in Phnom Penh still face problems in having access to water supply even though PPWSA has undertaken a credit program for facilitating payment of water connection charge by the poor. Yet only about 10% of the total population in Dangkao is covered by water supply services from PPWSA. The rest rely on informal private providers and traditional sources such as well, pond, lake, etc. for meeting their water need. In order to formulate recommendations for improvement of water supply for the poor, this study has examined the current constraints and limitations of PPWSA in the provision of water supply to Dangkao, especially the poor. Information and data were collected on the current condition of water supply in Dangkao, on problems of the poor in having access to water supply, and role of informal private provider (IPP) in the provision water supply. The field visits and survey used to collect data through interviewing the PPWSA officials, informal private providers, and questionnaire survey of residents of Dangkao. The result of the survey reveals that the major constraints of the PPWSA for expanding its water service to Dangkao are: (i) network constraint arising from physical factors (e.g. the distance of the peril-urban area from the main city network) (ii) problems of cost recovery, (iii) inadequate affords by PPWSA to involve people into the service provision, and (iv) limited capital investment to build new network system. However, the study finds that IPP is playing a very important role in the provision water supply in Dangkao. The connection fee required by IPP is affordable to most of the poor. Unfortunately, water supply provided by IPP does not meet the drinking water quality standard. To overcome this problem, PPWSA can play a supportive role to IPP. PPWSA can introduce an incentive system and provide technical assistance to IPP improve the quality of water supply by IPP. The research findings have also shown that two major problems of the poor in having access to water supply from PPWSA are: (i) the connection fee required is expensive to the poor, and (ii) the settlement characteristics they are living in. The poor who live in illegal and temporary settlements are not allowed to have access to water supply from PPWSA. For the connection fee problem, this study recommends that PPWSA should reform connection fee payment in order to make it affordable to the poor. The PPWSA should subsidize the water connection fee and no need to subsidize the water tariff. For overcoming the problem of illegal settlements, the city authority needs to introduce a flexible approach to tenure and legal requirement. According a de facto security needs to be considered on an urgent basic. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Amin, A. T. M. Nurul |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sajor, Edsel E. ;Thammarat Koottatep |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003 |