Farmers Watch as Tonle Sap Authority Crushes Reservoirs

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Kampong Thom, Cambodia Thursday, 05 August 2010

The machines had come to tear down more than 10 reservoirs local farmers had built to capture the receding waters of the swollen Tonle Sap lake.

“I was very disappointed with the destruction of my reservoir.”

One morning in early July, about a dozen bulldozers and excavators came to Msa Krong commune where Kong Heuv lives, about 50 kilometers outside Kampong Thom provincial town.

The machines had come to tear down more than 10 reservoirs local farmers had built to capture the receding waters of the swollen Tonel Sap lake.

“I was very disappointed with the destruction of my reservoir,” said the 67-year-old farmer, as he walked along the flattened dam one recent day.

“If I were rich, this would not be a problem,” he told VOA Khmer. “But I am still in debt due to the construction of the reservoir.”

The government has been tearing down these kinds of reservoirs since late June, under the new Tonle Sap Authority, which has a mandate to protect the flooded forests around the great lake.

There are about 1 million hectares of these forests around the lake; nearly 400,000 hectares have been destroyed already. Since 2002, villagers have been expanding their farmlands, while business owners have looked for other means to catch fish as the water recedes each year.

Kong Heuv said he spent about $5,500 two years ago to keep water for his rice paddies during the dry season.

“I don’t know how to deal with my debt now that I can’t work on the paddies I depend on,” he said.

Chan Yuttha, secretary general of the Tonle Sap Authority, said 35 of 239 reservoirs have now been destroyed across six provinces.

“And there will be no compensation for any loss of the reservoirs, because they were all built illegally,” he said.

Tri Horn, chief of Msa Krong commune, said the destruction of the reservoirs is good for the sustainability of the flooded forests. But, he acknowledged that the dismantling some of the small ones owned by poor farmers in his commune has caused problems for them.

“They borrowed the money from banks to build those reservoirs, so they are now in debt,” he said in an interview at this house. “Some almost want to commit suicide due to the debt.”

Most of the 9,000 people in his commune depend on farming, while a smaller number need the reservoirs for dry-season fishing, he said.

“In addition to keeping water for farming, the building of reservoirs is also meant to catch fish,” said Lim Kean Hor, Minister of Water Resources and head of the Tonle Sap Authority.

The reservoirs are especially problematic in Kampong Thom province, where they are built consecutively and impede the flow of the river, he said.

“So, all of the remaining reservoirs around the great lake will be dismantled to preserve the lake,” he said.

Major dam collapse in Kampot, loss of water reservoir could seriously affect the livelihood of nearby villagers

Villagers seen fleeing to safety area after the dam collapse (Photo: Neay Keub, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Views from the location of the accident (Photo: Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Emergency situation due to the collapse a dam holding several million cubic meters of water

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Kampot Province – Villagers in 3 communes sounded an emergency alarm with pagoda drums past midnight on 30 October 2007. The emergency announcement was made so that other villagers pay heeds and move out of their houses located downstream from a dam retaining a 15 million cubic meters water reservoir which was about to collapse. The reservoir held by the dam extends over an area of 600 hectares and surrounded by mountains located in Kon Sat commune, Kampot district, Kampot province.

After sounding the emergency alarm at 3 in the morning on 30 October, the dam collapsed forcing villagers from Bos Nhenh and Kon Sat villages, Kon Sat commune, to flee for safety. The earth embankment of the dam collapsed one section at a time as cracks started to appear on the embankment. The collapse was accompanied by a scary loud noise as the water started to gush out of the dam breach. Frightened by the collapse, villagers fled with their children from their houses located near the collapsed dam. Large amount of the water breached the earth embankment and gushed toward the sea. The water flow was slowed by a railroad track separating the dam and the sea.

Khuy Sean, Kampot district governor, told Koh Santepheap that the network of water reservoirs extends over an area of 600-hectare, and it is surrounded by mountains and hills, the dam collapsed at 3:00 AM. He added that this large water reservoir was built before the Vietnamese invasion on 07 January, and it was repaired later on. Khut Sean said the capacity of the reservoir is 15 million cubic meters, and some portion of the reservoir has a depth of 7, 4, and 5-meter, with an average depth is about 2.5-meter. Khuy Sean added that villagers from 3 communes are using water from this reservoir for farming during the dry season: they are from the Kon Sat, Trapeang Pring and Trapeang Sangker communes. Khuy Sean said that the several thousands of hectares of crops are destroyed because of the collapse. He also indicated that the joint authority forces are ordered to help transport the villagers to safer places.

Khuy Sean said that at 9:00 AM on 30 October, the concrete columns holding the reservoir gate fell down because of the pressure exerted by the water gush.

Khuy Sean said that at 01:00 AM, water started to seep through small holes along the base of the dam, these holes are called dragon holes by the villagers (piping failure is the technical term for this type of dam failure). At 3:00 AM, a loud explosion noise was heard causing panic among the villagers who started to flee from the area.

Khoy Khun Sea, the Kampot deputy provincial governor, said that the commune and district authorities asked the monks to sound the emergency drums in the middle of night to officially announce to the villagers to be careful about the situation, and to start moving out of the area gradually, especially for those living near the dam. Khoy Khun Sea indicated that up until 11:00 AM on 30 October, no villagers were killed in the incident because of the early warning signs observed on the dam. He added that a stretch of 30-meter-long of the dam breached, and nothing can be done to hold it until the reservoir drained out, this could take at least 2-day. During the dam collapse, MP Von Pena also visited the disaster area.

The reporters on the spot indicated that the villagers were extremely scared when people started yelling to each other about the dam break, mixed with the noise of the dam collapse and the fearsome gush of water flow. It is not yet known how many homes were destroyed by the accident, nor the extent of crop damage. Based on the latest news, the situation seems to calm down, but the extent of the damage on the railroad tracks which is located across the water flow path is not known yet either.