Specs revealed for Siem Reap canal project

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Nicky McGavin
Thursday, 04 June 2009

SIEM REAP

THE details of a US$800,000 project to preserve, clean and further develop a network of canals in Siem Reap province were revealed Wednesday during a meeting of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC).

The canals project, to be implemented in Siem Reap district's Sala Kamreuk commune, is expected to get under way late this year, at the conclusion of the rainy season.

Tep Vattho, project manager for the Apsara Authority, the body responsible for managing Angkor Wat, said the project was prompted by complaints from villagers and farmers about the quality and quantity of water available during the dry season.

She said water contamination had adversely affected crop production during the past three years, and that the project was designed to remedy this problem as well as other sanitation problems and flooding to the north and south of Siem Reap town.

Proposal details
Details of the project presented Wednesday indicate that the flow of water in the canals will be improved by new hydraulic structures, while the cleaning and dredging of the canals will be facilitated by the installation of new drainage tanks. The details also reference a plan to transport
water to the canals during the dry season and to limit water intake during the rainy season.

A system of septic tanks will allow for wastewater recovery and treatment. Dirty water will be funneled to a plant basin filtration system, which will clean it before discharging it into the canals. In addition, the plan calls for an education programme to ensure that local villagers no longer deposit wastewater into the canals.

The bulk of the funding for the project is to come from French bodies including the Greater Paris Interdepartmental Sanitary Authority, which will provide €530,000 (US$748,095).