Cambodian Women Speak Up on Dam's Threat

Monday, July 4, 2011
By Amy Lieberman
WeNews correspondent

In Cambodia's rural northeastern province, the Sesan River is the primary source of food and income for fishing and farming communities. But hydropower dams are encroaching and village women say their daily life is hit the hardest.

RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia (WOMENSENEWS)–-The Cambodian government has not yet secured funding for Lower Sesan 2, a 750 megawatt, $650 million dam that would export electricity to Vietnam and become the largest hydropower dam in Cambodia.

With plans underway, though, some women in the deeply spiritual nine ethnic indigenous communities of Ratanakiri Province, 10 hours north of Phnom Penh, are braced for the worst.

Ratanakiri residents along the Sesan river support themselves by fishing and farming, both subject to drastic disruption by the project. The dam is expected to impinge on fish migration and flood surrounding farmland.

Damned Viet dam affects Khmer villagers living along the Sesan River

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb-DuwlxLZI

Negative impact on Ratanakiri villagers from Vietnamese dam - RFA Video

Water released from Vietnamese dam creates danger along river in Cambodia in Ratanakiri province

New scientific study: Dams on Sesan River polluting water and poisoning downstream communities

Address: PO Box 89007, Village 4, Banlung Town, Ratanakiri,
CAMBODIA
tel: (855) 75 974 112
Email: sesan@online.com.kh
www.3spn.cfsites.com

PRESS RELEASE

8th September, 2009

New scientific study: Dams on Sesan River polluting water and poisoning downstream communities.

Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia - A new report has linked upstream hydropower reservoirs to high levels of toxic algae and bacteria found in the Sesan River, which exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for safe drinking water.

Adverse environmental and social impacts caused by hydroelectric damming of the Sesan River are reflected in a report released by STRIVER; a research strategy for improved water resource management jointly coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (BIOFORSK) and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). The report illustrates how detrimental dams on the Sesan River in Vietnam have been to the quality of water in the Sesan River and the health problems faced by communities living downstream in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia.

These research findings are especially relevant given proposals are in place to construct 5 dams on the Sesan River and its tributaries in Cambodia, including the large 400MW Sesan II dam in Stung Treng, which is anticipated to resettle over 5,000 people, inundate more than 33,000 ha of land, and have large scale impacts on fisheries and the livelihoods of both upstream and downstream communities.

The 2009 STRIVER technical brief entitled “A limnological study of the Sesan River in Cambodia in the dry season: focus on toxic cyanobacteria and coliform bacteria” is based on scientific research carried out by Anna Madeleine Tiodolf, Norwegian University of Life Sciences with field assistance provided by the 3S Rivers Protection Network (3SPN). The report presents the results of a water quality study conducted during the dry season over a two-week period in March 2008 in which water samples were taken in two different locations along the Sesan River in Ratanakiri province; Andong Meas, 30 kilometres downstream of the Vietnamese border, and Vuen Sai, 130 kilometres downstream of the Vietnamese border.

The study confirmed the occurrence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in the Sesan River mainstream, however no cyanobacteria were detected in the water samples taken in three different tributaries, indicating the polluted water to originate from a more stagnant mainstream source such as an upstream hydropower reservoir.

The water is not suitable for human consumption

Research by Tiodolf found concentrations of toxic algae (cyanotoxin) and presence of the indicator species E.coli, coliform bacteria, in the Sesan River exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for safe drinking water.

Cyanotoxins are cancerous to the liver after longer periods of exposure, while excessive levels of E.coli concentration are commonly associated with many health problems and present an increased risk to communities through the spreading of waterborne disease.

Results are consistent with the gastric disorders and skin problems experienced by Sesan River communities since the construction of the Yali Falls dam. Approximately 28,000 people rely on the Sesan River for their drinking water, fishing, bathing, and feeding livestock and according to a report prepared by the Fisheries Office in 2000 entitled “A study of the downstream impacts of the Yali Falls dam in the Sesan River Basin in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia.” The 2000 report stated that 952 people had died along the Sesan River, with large numbers of domestic animals, as a result of diseases believed by local communities to be directly associated with the Yali Falls dam.

A 2007 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the Sesan River similarly identified toxic algae as the likely reason for villagers’ illnesses. The EIA report prepared by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and Nordic hydropower consultants, SWECO Grøner, confirmed that there are strains of toxin-producing cyanobacteria present in the Yali Dam Reservoir, and that water quality in the Sesan River has “seriously deteriorated since the construction of the Yali Power Plant” with the cyanobacteria producing “exactly the same symptoms” as reported by Cambodians downstream.

Mr. Meach Mean, Coordinator of the 3S Rivers Protection Network which works with communities along the Sesan River in Ratanakiri, indicates that this study confirms what villagers have been reporting for years. “The research by STRIVER clearly demonstrates the disastrous ecological and social effects large dams can have on rivers and the associated health problems for downstream communities. We hope this report will help initiate remedy for the communities who have been waiting for mitigation and compensation from the past and present impacts of Vietnam’s dams”.

Construction on Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam began in 1993 by the Electricity of Vietnam on the Sesan River and is located approximately 70-80 km from the border of Cambodia. Since its construction and operation in 2001, villagers living downstream have experienced large-scale social, economic, and environmental impacts. Despite complaints and requests from communities for mitigation no solution has been forthcoming

Mr. Say Duen, from Koh Peah Commune, in Vuan Sai district confirmed that health problems started approximately 5 to 10 years ago. “When we use the river water to cook, or to wash, we sometimes get a skin rash or diarrhea, and children who swim and drink the water get sick, especially during the dry season. I hope that this message will be received by the government and dam builders and they use their responsibility to find a solution for our people.”

END

For more information, photos, or documents mentioned in this press release:
Contact: Mr. Meach Mean, Coordinator, 3S Rivers Protection Network, sesan@online.com.kh, +855 (0)11 758 970.

The 3S Rivers Protection Network (3SPN) is a civil society organisation representing indigenous people living along the Sesan, Srepok (and Sekong) Rivers in Cambodia.

VN Yali Falls dam pushes Cambodian indigenous communities out to safer, higher ground

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Report: Northeast Cambodians Abandon Riverside Homes for Safer, Higher Ground

15 October 2007
NGO Forum on Cambodia

Ratanakiri: More than 3,500 dam-affected people in northeastern Cambodia have abandoned their riverside villages and moved upland, according to research conducted by 17 community-based researchers with technical support by the 3S Rivers Protection Network (3SPN) in Ratanakiri province.

3SPN researchers found that 722 households from 17 villages along the Se San River have resettled upland – without government or donor assistance – to escape damaging floods and erratic river conditions caused by upstream dam operations in Vietnam.

“We published this study to educate government authorities and international donor agencies about the difficult life imposed on indigenous communities since Vietnam built the Yali Falls dam in 1993,” says Meach Mean, Acting Coordinator of 3SPN.

The 720 mega-watt Yali Falls dam is the first and largest of four hydro dams built on the upper Se San by Electricity of Vietnam.

“Abandoned Villages Along the Se San River in Ratanakiri Province, Northeastern Cambodia” was prepared by local researchers from three of the eight indigenous groups living along the Se San in Cambodia. The report highlights villagers’ perspectives on how the Se San has changed in the last decade and what compelled them to abandon their riverside homes:

Since dam construction upstream, the river is no longer a reliable source of fish and water for irrigating rice and dry season crops, Mr. Roman Mal, a Jarai Village Chief of Dal Pok village, explains: “Villagers have lost their hopes and dependencies on this river, because nearly all of the river resources are gone.”

Mr. Pous Pin, a Brao villager from Ta Veng district stated: “We moved our village away from the riverbank because we no longer could cultivate rice in our Chamkars (farm land) along the Se San River which flooded every year and because so many people and animals have died (from the floods).”

“Everyday, both during the day and at night, I live with fear of severe water fluctuations and of the dam breaking. I cannot sleep well at night. I often get up and go to see the river late at night because I fear a water surge may come,” said Mrs. Romas Veun, a Jarai villager from Pi village who has recently built a house away from the river for shelter in an emergency.

Earlier this year, Electricity of Vietnam released an assessment of the downstream impacts of Se San hydro development but the report – prepared by Nordic engineering consultants SWECO Grøner – provides no information about the villagers’ move upland nor does it recommend compensation for damages caused by EVN dams.

3SPN is a local organization working with communities affected by hydropower development in Vietnam and Lao PDR on the Se San, Srepok and Sekong rivers in northeastern Cambodia.

For more information:

Contact: Meach Mean, Acting Coordinator, 3SPN, sesan@camshin.net or at +855 (0) 11214752, or Ngy San, Deputy Director, NGO Forum on Cambodia, san@ngoforum.org.kh or at +855 (0) 12802290.

Hard copies of the report can be requested from 3SPN at sesan@camshin.net. The electronic report is available in English and Khmer at NGO Forum on Cambodia’s website by clicking here.