Inmates at Prey Sar prison now connected to mains water

The Prey Sar prison main gate. Previously only dirty well water was available to drink freely. This water is now used for the toilets and sanitation.

The Prey Sar prison and outside wall in Phnom Penh. Previously only dirty well water was available to drink freely. This water is now used for the toilets and sanitation.

14th of June 2012
Demotix

Prisoners held at the Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh Cambodia have finally got access to ten litres of tap water to drink each day. Inmates include the 13 women protestors who claimed their homes at the Boeung Kak lake had been illegally seized.

Description:

Prisoners held at the Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh Cambodia, including the 13 women protestors who claimed their homes at the Boeung Kak lake have been illegally siezed, have finally got access to 'clean' drinking water.

The project funded by the Red Cross and the Phnom Penh Water Authority, inmates now have access to 10 litres of 'clean' tap water every day. This water is from the mains supply water to Phnom Penh and the connection was only possible due to Red Cross NGO assistance and funding.

Previously only dirty well water was available to drink freely. This water is now used for the toilets and sanitation. If inmates had the cash to splash then they could buy bottled water or sometimes rainwater, otherwise they had no clean water to drink.

No Water for Khmer Krom Village [-Disenfranchisement of Khmer Krom people in Nambodia]

Khmer Krom monks demanding asylum in Cambodia rally in front of the UNHCR offices in Phnom Penh, Aug. 2, 2005. (AFP)

Ethnic Khmer who fled Vietnam and built a new life in Cambodia now find themselves disenfranchised.

2012-04-05

Radio Free Asia

Members of the Khmer Krom minority in Vietnam who moved to Cambodia say they cannot get a clean water system in their village because they are ignored by local authorities.

The residents of Bek Krong, in the Prey Nop commune in southern Cambodia’s Sihanoukville province, say that life has been more difficult for them in Cambodia than they expected because they lack access to the most basic necessity.

“It is hard because we don’t have fresh water,” said Krom Soeung Thy, a Bek Krong resident who fled Vietnam 20 years ago.

“The fresh water has to be supplied from elsewhere and the price is so expensive,” he said.

The isolated village, where homes are built on stilts above sea water, is the only Khmer Krom village in the commune and the only one without access to clean water.

Phnom Penh's Feat: Getting Clean Tap Water Flowing

Cambodian villagers get water from a truck at a camp in Preah Vihear province, some 300 miles northwest of Phnom Penh. Though 92 percent of households in Phnom Penh have clean running water, many in rural Cambodia rely on trucks or water purification tablets. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images)

Ek Sonn Chan of Cambodia accepts the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, in Manila, Philippines. Chan was cited for his "exemplary rehabilitation of a ruined public utility, bringing safe drinking water to a million people in Cambodia's capital city." (Bullit Marquez/AP)

June 2, 2011
By Rob Gifford
NPR (USA)

The sound of running water — clean running water — is not one you have always been able to hear in the ramshackle lean-tos that pass for homes on the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Providing clean water is one of the biggest challenges for governments in the developing world. Clean water charities say that thousands of people die every day of preventable diseases as a result of not having clean drinking water, and 90 percent of those who die are under the age of 5.

But in recent years, Phnom Penh has been leading the way: The city has managed to provide clean running water to almost the entire urban population.

Clean water more expensive for slum communities than others

Sun Mar 27, 2011 4:48PM
Preethi Nallu, press TV, Phnom Penh

It is a special day for this 26 year old and his family. His home in the outskirts of Phnom Penh city in Cambodia will now have 24 hour clean water supply. Like many other Cambodians living in slum communities, Sinkue, who is an English teacher at a local school had to travel a long distance to obtain safe water for daily use. He is confident that this round-the-clock water supply will increase the quality of life for his family and his students.

Water: an essential element for sustaining life. Yet, according the World Health Organization (WHO), 884 million people across the world lack access to safe water supplies. This number equates to roughly one in eight people.

Cambodia, a country that depends heavily on foreign aid, has been in the process of re-developing its water infrastructure since the early 90s after the end of the Pol Pot regime that left the country in an impoverished state and without basic amenities.

More Clean Water, But Challenges for Poor Remain

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 22 March 2011

“Many people in urban slums are forced to rely on unsafe water sources.”

While Cambodians are increasingly enjoying clean water, many who live in the poorer areas of the country remain at risk to diseases caused from dirty water, officials said Tuesday as they marked World Water Day.

Around 85 percent of Cambodians have access to safe drinking water, with the majority in urban areas, Douglas Broderick, the UN resident coordinator, said in an address at a Phnom Penh primary school.

But in urban slums, access to state water is limited, forcing many to pay three to five times the cost, he said. As a result, “many people in urban slums are forced to rely on unsafe water sources.”

Phnom Penh, which has earned high marks for creating access to water, has around 5,000 families in slum areas with free access to safe water under a World Bank program, said Man Chhoeun, deputy commissioner for development at the Council of Ministers.

Portable solar device creates potable water

Tue, Mar 22, 2011
ZMEscience.com

A Monash University grad student has managed to create a simple, sustainable and affordable water purification device with the potential to save an incredible number of lives and eradicate diseases.

The Solarball, as it is called, was developed by Mr Jonathan Liow as his final year project in his Bachelor of Industrial Design can produce up to three liters of clear, drinkable water per day. What happens is the spherical unit absorbs sunlight and causes the dirty water to evaporate; as the evaporation occurs, contaminants are separated from the clean water, which is then condensed, and ready for drinking.

The Solarball was created with 900 million people who don’t have access to clean water in mind.

Cambodia faces safe water, sanitation challenges

March 22, 2011

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) – While Cambodia is working hard to improve the access to safe water, the issue remains its challenge, a statement from UN office in the country said Tuesday.

"Some 85 percent of the population having access to safe water, among which 76 percent in urban areas," the statement said.

However, it said the situation is not as good for those living in urban slums where they have difficult access to state supplied water.

Furthermore, some 90 percent of population in the country have access to sanitation and 81 percent have toilets, according to the UN office in Cambodia.

Relay marathon to raise funds for Cambodia

Winners 'Team Mad' (l-r) Dave Wylie, Anderson Santos and Mark Roy with a team time of 2:55:58. Photo: Supplied

18th October 2010
Michele McPherson
Bay of Plenty Times (New Zealand)

The soggy weather failed to dampen the spirits of the 29 teams that competed in a Tauranga team relay marathon event to raise money for water sanitation in Cambodia.

The A $ A K marathon, held on Sunday at Fergusson Park, saw each of the teams donate $1 for each kilometre they ran to the World Vision water sanitation project in Cambodia, with the event raising $1218 for the cause.

First to cross the finish-line was Team Mad, consisting of Anderson Santos, Dave Wylie and Mark Roy, who finished in 2:55:18.

Second was Mount Joggers, Team 3, in 3:18:49 and third was The Three in 3:31:23.

The first runner from each team ran 7km, followed by the second who ran 14km and the

third who ran 21km to complete the 42km course.

The event was organised by Tauranga woman Ang Jackson on behalf of Life Network Charitable Trust.

Mrs Jackson said 100 per cent of the funds raised would go to the three-year project,

which is fully funded by New Zealanders.

Mrs Jackson said the event attracted all levels of runners and there was amazing

camaraderie between teams and marshalls.

She said a closing speech from a World Vision representative helped reinforce the message about what could be achieved by the 87 competitors when they worked in

teams.

"It's not a one-person job to do anything for another community."

CWS: 'Clean Water Scarce in Rural Cambodia'

Church World Service
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2676

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Water as human right hasn’t reached rural Cambodia, CWS tells Geneva consultation

GENEVA, Switzerland –Sept. 17, 2010 -- Cambodia has made strides over the past two decades in providing clean water and sanitation to its urban areas. But those gains have yet to reach the majority of rural Cambodians, according to Cambodian humanitarian agency water program specialist Mao Sophal.

Sophal, senior staff member for Church World Service Cambodia, spoke on the issue of affordability of clean water and sanitation for Cambodia’s poorest, during a consultation earlier this week in Geneva between international civil society representatives and Catarina de Albuquerque, United Nations independent expert on issues of access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right.

Sophal and Agneta Dau Valler, Country Representative for CWS Vietnam and Cambodia, attended the consultation after last week’s World Water Week summit in Sweden, where this year’s Stockholm Industry Water Award was given to the Phnom Penh Water Supply authority for its achievement in providing water to nearly 90% of the city’s population.

“We applaud Cambodia’s advances in making clean water accessible to so many more people in Phnom Penh,” said Dau Valler. “However, the situation is still completely different in the countryside.”

In rural Cambodia -- where 80 percent of the country’s population resides -- UNICEF estimates that only 16 percent of people have access to adequate sanitation and 65 percent to safe water.

The overall lack of clean water and sanitation is costing Cambodia around half a billion dollars every year in poor health and loss of tourism.

But for clean water and sanitation to become a reality for all in Cambodia and the rest of the world’s poorest countries, water and sanitation infrastructure and management also have to be accessible and affordable to all, says CWS’s Sophal.

“There also has to be equal focus on civil society’s advocacy at government and world body levels and cooperative engagement with local and regional authorities,” she said.

Sophal was one of 19 civil society panelists from developing countries and from the U.S. selected from some 50 applicants to present at the Geneva consultation, based on their responses to de Albuquerque’s questionnaire on good practices in water, sanitation and human rights programs.

In her presentation, Sophal said that CWS has focused its sustainable development work in rural Cambodia in great part to align with the country’s stated rural water and sanitation strategy—that, by 2025, every person in rural communities will have “sustained access to safe water supply and sanitation services” and will be living in “a hygienic environment.”

Specifically, CWS aims to help the “poorest of the poor” in rural Cambodia.

To realize that goal, CWS had to develop a valid, consistent and inclusive method of “ranking wealth” among residents, so communities can identify who will receive clean water and sanitation facilities and training in the villages CWS serves in Svay Rieng, Kompong Thom and remote Preah Vihear Provinces.

Mao said the agency’s team follows the humanitarian “do no harm” approach, with a participatory appraisal process in each village that engages district and provincial authorities, village chiefs, commune development leaders and water user groups to establish their own criteria to identify residents as “poorest of the poor,” “poor” or “better-off poor.”

In one village, “better-off poor” families may be identified as having a wooden house with a zinc roof, a certain number of draft and livestock animals, a small amount of land, agricultural income sources, and just enough food to make it through the year, and “poorest of the poor” families as having no draft or livestock animals beyond a few poultry, no land, no income source beyond their own labor, living in a tiny cabin, and insufficient food seven to ten months of the year.

Families selected for assistance receive priority facilities such as upgraded wells, latrines, or bio-sand water filters for safe drinking water.

To promote ownership, CWS said the Cambodian beneficiaries contribute labor and resources as possible and appropriate to their situations. The program also provides water and sanitation resources for health centers, commune offices and primary schools.

Sophal said the CWS approach requires a lot of NGO staff time and energy, but the benefits have been significant. Communities served now experience less water-borne disease, rarely have diarrhea, and households, schools and community centers have improved sanitation and hygiene. With community guidance, households are assisted in growing and maintaining productive home gardens for better food supply and income-generation.

She said the process promotes the human right to water and sanitation among community members and authorities, promotes community solidarity, accountability and honesty, and empowers women in decision-making.

On July 28, the UN General Assembly approved an historic non-binding resolution recognizing "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right.” On Monday, de Albuquerque told the Geneva civil society gathering that her mandate from the UN is to clarify the content of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and to make recommendations that could help reach Millennium Development Goals, particularly the goal relating to safe water and sanitation.

The UN water expert has held related consultations with governments, private sector leaders and other stakeholders.

Worldwide, an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water, more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation, and some 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year from water- and sanitation-related diseases.

Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net

Cambodia hosts regional meeting on improving rural water services to the poor

May 24, 2010
Xinhua

Cambodia on Monday hosts a regional meeting on how to improve rural water services at scale both in policy and practices in the region.

In a statement released Monday at the opening of the three-day meeting in Phnom Penh, it said that the main aims of the meeting is to bring together regional practitioners to discuss on how to improve sustainable rural water services at scale, to debate and analyze lessons learned and to identify common principles to improve both policy and practice in the region.

Thirty senior practitioners from the sector, both from governments and non-government organizations from Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Timor-Leste are to discuss strategies for improving the accountability of service providers to consumers; to apply technical standards; to maximize the potential of the private sector; or to start planning and costing of the full life cycle of infrastructure.

The meeting is organized by SNVNetherlands Development Organization in collaboration with Cambodia's Ministry of Rural Development and IRC (International Red Cross).

It said that after years of working in the sector, thousands of Rupees, Dollars, Dongs, Bhats, etc. have been invested over the years in new system construction, which in many cases is not properly maintained or properly repaired and which often fails far before the design-life of systems.

The statement added recognizing the problems. SNV and IRC have carried out studies in Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam to describe the existing Service Delivery Models (SDM) of rural water supply in these countries.

And it is expected that the main output of the workshop will be the learning between the different participants on the subject of water service delivery models and practices in Asia.

And the second important output will be to reflect on entry points for change and how change processes can be facilitated in countries.

The meeting also starts with field visits of 30 senior practitioners to Cambodia's Takeo and Kandal provinces, southern parts of Phnom Penh.

Irrigation network and clean water supply are still shortage in Cambodia, and thus many Cambodian villagers dig their own water wells to get water for their daily consumption.

The Waters Of Life: On The Road In Cambodia

Monday April 6, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff

There are a lot of differences between a place like Canada and Cambodia. But one thing both countries have in common is the need for clean drinking water. We're lucky enough to have that precious commodity. They don't always have that luxury.

CityNews anchor Gord Martineau is on the road with southern Ontario's Global Medic, helping to bring that liquid asset to a place that might otherwise never have it.

Bio-sand water filters save lives in Cambodia

15 Mar 2009
By agency reporter
Ekklesia

For Cambodians in rural Svay Rieng province, a little sand goes a long way in helping make water safe for consumption.

According to a report by humanitarian agency Church World Service, residents in 19 villages of Svay Rieng have been significantly reducing incidences of typhoid and diarrhoea by drinking water filtered through affordable, user-friendly bio-sand water filter devices small enough to place in a home or office space.

CWS has provided 1,216 of the filters to date in 56 Svay Rieng villages for use by people in some 1,900 households, schools, pagodas and commune halls. The effort is part of a multiple-solution Water and Sanitation Cooperation Project by Church World Service Cambodia that has benefited thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable people in remote rural areas.

The simple bio-sand water filters are a lifeline in a country where it's estimated that 74 percent of all deaths comes from water borne diseases. Despite advances in recent years made by Cambodia's public water utility in converting Phnom Penh's war-degraded water supply system into a model safe-water utility serving the capital city, rural areas of Cambodia still suffer from lack of clean water resources, sanitation, and related hygiene awareness and education.

Given the region's soaring inflation and the toll of the global financial meltdown on funding to aid agencies-- bio-sand water filters are proving a more affordable option for rural water problems than are larger, community well constructions.

Church World Service staff in Cambodia had initially planned to provide a certain number of wells and latrines in the Svay Rieng communities they serve, but couldn't justify suppliers' escalating higher prices for materials. Instead, they reduced the number of wells and latrines on their list and increased the number of much cheaper bio-sand water filters.

The cost for a typical bio-sand filter can range from US$15 to $20, depending on regional costs for materials. In the CWS programme, those who receive the filters are encouraged and given training to build their own filter devices.

Bio-sand filters are compact, household-sized box devices, usually built on a concrete base, containing a layer of gravel topped by a layer of sand. When water is poured through the top of the device, it's filtered by the sand and gravel. But it's the shallow layer of water remaining on top of the sand which forms a biologically dynamic wet film, or Schmutzdecke, that makes the critical difference-by trapping and consuming the microorganisms and contaminants in the water. The filtered water flows out through a pipe at the base of the device into a clean container for safe consumption.

Developed in 1990, bio-sand filters are increasingly being used by humanitarian agencies in developing countries. Research indicates that under optimal operating conditions and maintenance, bio-sand filters can remove most E. coli, worms and parasites, iron and manganese, and other toxicants from contaminated water.

Non-governmental organization Church World Service, with relief and development offices in Cambodia since 1979, was one of the first aid agencies permitted to work there after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. In 2005 CWS launched its comprehensive water, sanitation, health and hygiene cooperation project for vulnerable, under-served residents in two Svay Rieng districts near the Cambodia-Vietnam border, in partnership with Cambodia's Provincial Departments of Rural Development (PDRD). The effort is part of the CWS international Water for All initiative.

Bio-sand water filters are fast becoming star offerings. In Thmei Village, about 400 villagers- including women, teachers and 1,384 students at Kokir Primary School- attended trainings on bio-sand filter use and maintenance and clean water and sanitation practices.

Church World Service staff subsequently monitored 156 households and found that those drinking water from the filters experienced a significant decrease in diarrhoea and typhoid, according to CWS Cambodia Country Representative Josephine Barbour.

In village commune halls, the water filters are available to everyone. Reports one commune hall clerk, "Now our commune stop [sic] buying pure drinking water from the market. When we organize meetings or other events, we can use filtered water. So we can save some money for other purposes."

Villagers who had bio-sand filters now have spread the word about the dangers of drinking unclean and un-boiled water and other poor hygiene practices-and, at requests from their neighbours, are sharing their water filter like a fountain of life.

CWS, which also conducts agriculture, education and livelihoods development programs throughout Cambodia in concert with local partners, is now planning to expand its water and sanitation program in 20 more villages.

Church World Service is an international relief, development, refugee protection and advocacy agency funded by public donations, grants and through the support of 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations and communions in the USA.

Contributions to help bring clean water and other self-help assistance to families and communities around the world can be made online at:
www.churchworldservice.org/donate

Karaoke spreads health message in Cambodia - Feature

Fri, 30 Jan 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - In Cambodia, a country where water-borne diseases cause tens of thousands of deaths every year, one development organization is using the power of song to spread the word on safe water consumption. For the past 18 months, the US-based Resource Development International (RDI) group has combined its public health and water safety message with one of this country's most popular pastimes - karaoke.

With its purpose-built karaoke truck, the group has toured many communities in predominantely rural Cambodia and invited residents to sing along with a range of specially composed tunes.

The songs' lyrics address a range of crucial public health issues including HIV-AIDS, bird flu and water sanitation; and according to RDI country director Mickey Sampson, they have struck a chord with people of all ages.

"Workshops and community meetings are great ways to teach people about the importance of sanitation and healthy habits, but we have been amazed by the effectiveness of this karaoke programme," he said.

"These kinds of methods are very useful in countries like Cambodia where there is a poor level of literacy. I think it has also been particularly effective here because Cambodians seem to have very well developed aural abilities and they learn very well from music."

While generally limited to bars in many Western countries, karaoke is a popular family activity in Cambodia and is most commonly performed in people's homes and at parties, weddings and public festivals.

"Cambodians love karaoke, so they were more than willing to take hold of the microphone when we arrived in the villages," Sampson said. "Often making contact with people and getting them involved in campaigns can be a hurdle to raising awareness, but this is not the case with the karaoke programme."

Sampson said it was difficult to measure how the program had changed people's behaviour, but said there were signs the songs' messages were sticking.

"Although measuring the impact of the songs on behaviour is complicated, we have returned to villages weeks or months after our first visit and found that people are still singing the songs," he said.

"Combined with our other services, such as providing ceramic water features, we have found this is a very simple and effective way of raising awareness about such important health issues."

Only 16 per cent of rural Cambodians have access to toilets, according to a report released in September by the World Bank-sponsored Water and Sanitation Program.

The report also said the lack of proper water sanitation and toilets in rural areas led to the deaths of more than 12,000 children aged under five through diarrhea-related illnesses each year.

According to figures published on RDI's website, water-borne diseases contribute to 74 per cent of deaths in Cambodia each year.

Clay Pot Filters Extolled for Clean Water

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
23 October 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

The use of clay pot filters can effectively clean water and reduce the need of heating materials such as gas, wood or charcoal, according to Resource Development International Cambodia.

The organization is trying to disseminate 35,000 of the filters, which can clean water just as effectively as boiling it, said Mickey Sampson, RDIC’s country director, in an interview in Washington. The group hopes to fill clean water needs of 200,000 people, including students at schools, he said.

Water filtration can help Cambodians with a widespread problem that leads to stomach pain, diarrhea and potential death in children, Sampson said.

“My organization is working in many provinces, but I think most of the work is in the schools,” he said. The organization was showing teachers how to use the water filters for use in classrooms and for teachers to sell them in the future, he said.

“It is also to help their neighbors to be able to use the clean water filter at their house,” he said.

Each pot costs 33,000 riel, around $8, and can be paid for in installments, Sampson said. His group is trying to sell the filter pots in 15 provinces and has been particularly successful in Siem Reap and Kandal provinces.

Filtration may even be preferable to well water, which can be poisoned with toxins, including arsenic, Sampson said. He encouraged villagers to check with the Ministry of Rural Development on the safety of their wells or have them tested.

The provinces of Kandal, Prey Veng and Kampong Cham, as well as other provinces along major rivers, have all been found to have a potential arsenic threat, Sampson said.

Minister of Water Resources Lim Kien Hor, applauded the RDIC water filtration pots and agreed that arsenic was of concern in some locations.

“Most of our citizens are using well water,” he said. “As you know, most of the well water along our rivers is contaminated with arsenic. It is seriously toxic.”

The government hopes to pass a water law and to circulate warnings to areas in danger, he said.

One Cambodian woman in Phnom Penh, Chi Yu Mai, said her family has been using the clay pot filter for two years, and her family has never been sick from its water. She has even saved money by using it, she said.

“The use of this clay water filter is providing us a lot benefit,” she said. “One, it does not waste time to boil water. Two, it provides good health for us.”

Meanwhile, RDIC has also set up videos to teach young children to read Khmer, the importance of hand-washing for health and sanitation, and the dangers of HIV and AIDS. More information can be found at www.rdic.org.

Ceramic Filters for Drinking Water Improving Health in Cambodia

U.S. private, public sectors promote local manufacture of basic technology

21 October 2008
By Nancy L. Pontius
Special Correspondent
America.gov (US Gov't)

Littleton, Colorado — In more than 100,000 Cambodian households, the use of ceramic drinking-water filters produced in Cambodia is estimated to have reduced instances of diarrhea by 46 percent compared to similar households that have not used the filters.

Ceramic filters are effective, affordable and easy to use, making them “among the very best health interventions available today,” Joe Brown, a University of Alabama assistant professor, told America.gov.

Brown and Mark Sobsey, a University of North Carolina (UNC) professor, led a study of ceramic-filter use in Cambodia that showed the filters removed microbial contaminants effectively for at least three years to four years in homes.

The study, carried out by the UNC School of Public Health and funded by UNICEF and the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program, received the International Water Association 2008 Project Innovation Award Grand Prize for Small Projects.

"Locally produced ceramic water filters are a new technology in Cambodia,” Brown said. “This project showed that people continue to use the filters effectively generally for three to four years, usually until the filters break.”

Costing less than $10 each, these easy-to-use filters can be constructed and installed using locally available materials. The ceramic filters, which look like large flowerpots, are especially valuable in rural locations that lack safe drinking water and electricity.

“Ceramic filters are a really attractive option to help people live healthy lives,” Brown said.

MANUFACTURING, MARKETING, DISTRIBUTING CERAMIC FILTERS

Two U.S. nonprofit organizations have helped with filter manufacturing, marketing and training in schools and households in Cambodia:

• Resource Development International (RDI), which receives U.S. funding from the Give2Asia Foundation, the Coca-Cola Company and partnerships with UNC, Stanford University, Dartmouth College and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

• International Development Enterprises (IDE), whose funding sources include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Two other U.S. nonprofit organizations, the American Red Cross and Potters for Peace, were involved in early assistance efforts.

In 2002, the RDI ceramic-filter factory was built with a $10,000 grant from a private U.S. donor. That factory has been self-supporting from filter sales for the last three and a half years.

“Studies [including the Brown and Sobsey filter study] have shown that people who pay for filters use them longer, more effectively and are more likely to replace them than people who are given free filters,” Michael Sampson, RDI founder, told America.gov.

“Most of our filter distribution is through very low-cost sales to private individuals,” Sampson said. RDI introduces the filters in schools using catchy music videos and puppet shows teaching hygiene education. School teachers act as distributors, selling the filters in their communities and earning extra income.

“Sometimes filters are purchased using very small loans, such as paying $1 a month for eight months,” Sampson said. “Filter ownership empowers the Cambodians to solve their own problems — helping themselves and building their self-esteem.”

More than 100,000 Cambodian households now use the filters, including Noy and Than, a Cambodian couple who live in Preak Thom with their six children, Sampson said. The family lives near a lake that provides its drinking water.

Before using a ceramic filter, family members regularly were sick with diarrhea. In 2004, they began using a ceramic filter for their drinking water and their health greatly improved, Sampson said. “Because he is now healthier, Noy is able to work more, and the couple spends less money on medicine for their children because they get sick less often.”

Than was hired in 2007 to work in the filter factory on final filter-production steps. “She has realized the additional benefit of earning a good income,” Sampson said, “And her salary comes from regional filter sales that now pay for all aspects of running the factory.”

DEPLOYING CERAMIC-FILTER MANUFACTURING INTO OTHER COUNTRIES

Several U.S. organizations, including RDI and IDE, are helping other countries with this drinking-water technology.

In addition, a new USAID public-private partnership — Market-based Approaches to Scaling and Sustaining Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (MASSWaSH) — will focus on “achieving distribution of ceramic water purification filters and other household water, sanitation and hygiene technologies at a national scale in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos,” John Pasch, USAID regional water policy adviser, told America.gov.

MASSWaSH also will work to increase consumer demand for effective water and hygiene technologies, such as rainwater storage systems and latrines.

USAID is providing $8.5 million for this project, funding that is being matched dollar for dollar by private U.S. organizations. UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health will oversee the project’s research and a consortium of U.S. nonprofits will implement activities in Southeast Asia.

“A ceramic-filter factory does not require complicated technology, and can be set up virtually anywhere, using local materials, local labor and local technical expertise,” Tom Outlaw of MASSWaSH told America.gov.

RDI has helped set up filter factories in Burma, Sri Lanka, Laos and Indonesia, and is planning to help establish factories in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sampson said. “The key to sustainable filter distribution is having filters produced locally and distributed through existing local market channels.”

RDI worked with the nonprofit Engineers Without Borders to develop a detailed handbook — freely available to other nations — to help transfer filter technology and the lessons learned.

Information about manufacturing, marketing and distributing ceramic filters is available on the RDI Web site.

Radios help people get clean water

47 % of people in Cambodia can't afford filters for clean water. (FEBC Photo)

24 September, 2008

Cambodia (MNN) ― In Cambodia, 47 percent of the population doesn't drink clean water simply because they can't afford filters. Others simply don't know the importance of clean water, and a large number suffer from diarrhea and waterborne illnesses.

In many countries, the ease of buying clean water or having it available in your home is taken for granted.

Far East Broadcasting Company is helping people learn more about hygiene, irrigation, the science of wells, and providing clean water for livestock in two new radio programs. One is called The Well of Life--a drama that runs five days a week for 5 minutes. The other is a 30-minute spot that is simply informative.

Listeners also hear how water and wells are a symbol of rebirth and life for Christians. FEBCambodia staff travel around giving out radios so more people can hear the message. They get feedback on their programs, and most importantly, they give families water filters. It is a small thing that can change lives.

If you'd like to donate to families who need water filters, go here.

Drinking water solution project in Cambodia wins IWA award

JAKARTA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A study that offers ceramic water filters as a sustainable solution for rural drinking water treatment in Cambodia, has won the International Water Association (IWA) 2008 Project Innovation Award Grand Prize for Small Projects in Vienna recently, a release by the World Bank Indonesia said.

According to the release received by Xinhua on Monday, the study is funded by UNICEF and the Water and Sanitation Program and implemented by the University Of North Carolina School of Public Health.

The goals of the study were to characterize the microbiological effectiveness and health impacts of the ceramic water purifier, a household-scale ceramic filtration technology, in target populations and to identify successes and potential challenges facing the scale-up and implementation of the technology.

Results from the study suggested that the filters could significantly improve household water quality, offering up to 99.99 percent less E. coli in treated versus untreated water, said WSP Cambodia Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Jan-Willem Rosenboom.

Ceramic filters have helped many families in rural Cambodia, especially those living in villages where the ground water has proven to be contaminated with arsenic. Using these affordable filters, families can use surface water for drinking and cooking while continuing to use their contaminated wells for other purposes such as washing and gardening, Dr Mao Saray, Director of Rural Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Cambodia said.

Man's work cleans water, saves lives

September 09, 2008
By Julianna Parker
The Norman Transcript (USA)

When Mickey Sampson first moved to Cambodia, he thought he would only stay about a year to teach chemistry in the university.

Eleven years later, he has created an international nonprofit in the country and doesn't plan to move away any time soon.

Sampson spoke about his organization, Resource Development International -- Cambodia, and its efforts to bring clean water to the people of Cambodia in Southeast Asia at the University of Oklahoma Monday.

Sampson visited Cambodia, a country about the size of Oklahoma with a population of 14 million, for the first time on a short-term trip with his church, he said. After he fell in love with the country he convinced his wife to move with him to the southeast Asian country for a year. He took a year-long sabbatical from the Kentucky university where he was teaching.

He taught chemistry in Cambodia, but got involved in water initiatives after his wife called him into the bathroom while she gave their children a bath. The water was only three inches deep, but it was so murky his wife pointed out she couldn't see the bottom of the bathtub, Sampson said Monday.

"And she said, 'You know, you're a chemist. Can't you do something about this?'"

So Sampson started working with other non-governmental organizations to improve water quality in Cambodia. He eventually started an NGO of his own after he saw the high overhead in many organizations.

So 100 percent of the funds donated to RDI go to community development projects. Sampson and the other staff members raise separate support for themselves.

But RDI eventually could become self-sustainable. Sampson's idea is to base his nonprofit efforts on a successful business model.

He told the room packed with about 150 OU students Monday about his company's practices that often go against the norm for charity organizations.

RDI provides education, water testing, water filtration systems and construction, among other community development initiatives.

RDI tries to look at the problems in Cambodian society in a strategic way. Clean water is the perfect example.

One in five Cambodian children dies before age 5, Sampson said. Diarrheal disease is the biggest killer of those children, and contaminated water is the main cause of the disease.

Many NGOs think the solution to that problem is drilling wells. But Sampson said those well-intentioned people often have not helped at all. Water testing was rarely done at these new well sites, and as a result, many Cambodians drank contaminated water for years, Sampson said. Much of the water in the country is contaminated with arsenic, which causes painful skin conditions and cancer.

"All this was done in the spirit of good development," he said.

So while RDI does dig some wells, they also spend time testing the water and mapping out where the healthy water is located in Cambodia. The organization also developed water filtration pots that look like big terra cotta flower pots. The pots are placed in the top of water storage containers and filter out contaminants.

But even here RDI does things differently than many charities. It doesn't give away the water filtration pots. Instead, each person who wants one must pay the equivalent of eight U.S. dollars for the pots.

It would be easier to give them away, Sampson said, but it's a proven principal that people who pay for something take better care of it and use it more than if it was free.

"Part of development has to be making people want what they will really need," he said.

Communities won't be transformed without behavioral changes on all levels.

The results have shown that Sampson's methods are working. After two years of using the water filtration pots, the Cambodian families who had the filters were 49 percent less likely to have diarrheal disease than their neighbors without the filters, Sampson said.

OU has established a partnership with RDI, said David Sabatini, professor for the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science.

Graduate students will do research here for RDI during the year and then be able to work on those projects in person in Cambodia during the summers, he said.

Sabatini is also director of the WaTER Center. The research center at OU is dedicated to helping solve drinking water challenges in impoverished areas. The WaTER Center brought Sampson to OU this week.

"I am extremely impressed and we are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Mickey Sampson here today," he said.
Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

Australian finds new spiritual career in Cambodia

Correspondents Report - Sunday, 24 August , 2008
Reporter: Karen Percy
ABC Radio Australia

ELIZABETH JACKSON: To Cambodia now, where the dirt poor nation is providing spiritual richness to an Australian man. Paget Sayers was in the import-export business, until he retired a few decades ago.

But now pushing 80 years of age he's found a new career and a new journey that fits with his Buddhist beliefs.

South East Asia correspondent, Karen Percy, met up with him in Cambodia on his visit there last month.

(Sound of children reciting their times tables)

KAREN PERCY: At the Kbal Romea school near the town of Kampot in Southern Cambodia young students are reciting their three times tables.

It's the kind of scene you'd expect to see at almost any school across the country. But there is something that sets this school apart.

(Sound of water)

Paget Sayers is visiting.

PAGET SAYERS: We say just as important to wash you inside as you outside. So we've got to get them enthusiastic, and I hope they're gradually getting a taste for clean water.

KAREN PERCY: The 78-year-old is a hero here after building rainwater tanks. Today he's on a mission to ensure that every child has his or her water bottle, and he's making sure the bottles are filled.

PAGET SAYERS: Good. Nearly empty. One more.

KAREN PERCY: He was prompted to act when he discovered there was arsenic in the local wells.

PAGET SAYERS: Some of the mother's were a bit nervous about "Ooh, rainwater. Pond water is what we've been using. You know, boiled pond water, but a bit murky". We got a letter from the Pasteur Institute which said the water is fine, so the mothers are feeling pretty relaxed now about this nice clean water.

KAREN PERCY: This part of Cambodia isn't on any tourist trail. Paget Sayers was brought here in 2005 on a spiritual path. A practising Buddhist for 30 years, he was visiting temples and monasteries.

During his journey he came across so many that were locked up and neglected by the abbots. But here Abbot Chay Nhu was different.

PAGET SAYERS: For me he's a fulfilment of what the Buddhist story is all about; being satisfied with life; being happy. You can tell he's happy because he's always laughing and smiling.

That's something that you don't always see in abbots around South-East Asia and even Australia. Sometimes they're a bit grumpy. But he's never grumpy, are you? You're never grumpy, particularly when you get two lots of cement out of me, two tonnes. No.

KAREN PERCY: Yes, yes, to build the kitchen, says Abbot Chhay Nhu. When it's finished I will thank you, he tells Paget Sayers.

PAGET SAYERS: Always cheer me up. Always cheer me up you do. When I think it's too hard, or too hot, you cheer me up.

(Sound of Chhay Nhu speaking)

Yes, the floor, I know. You want the cement floor in the kitchen, yes, yes I'm happy, happy.

KAREN PERCY: Paget Sayers' Sydney-based not-for-profit charity, The Buddhist Library and Meditation Centre, initially raised money to build water tanks.

There were three to begin with at one school, and now there are well over 1,000 in 170 schools.

His project, Cambodia Now, runs Khmer language classes, English language classes; and helps older students develop job skills.

He's also established informal schools near the local rice fields for children who can't afford to attend or can't make the journey to the local school.

Each time he visits this region there's a new school or a new program, and many new demands. But his focus never waivers from his Buddhist aims.

PAGET SAYERS: You see a lot more monks now than you used to; there used to be not too many monks around cause a lot of them were killed. And now you see monks going out on their dhyana rounds in the morning.

So there's endless things we can do to take advantage of the synergy we've already created.

This is Karen Percy for Correspondents Report.

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