The Cambodian town of Battambang has two new attractions -- the country's first sewage treatment plant and a beautiful new pond for wedding photos. Conveniently, they are one and the same place.
But as well as serving as a backdrop for special pictures, the new sewage treatment plant is bringing about some less popular changes in Battambang. The 'polluter pay' concept is coming to the northwestern provincial town -- meaning that about 12,000 home and business owners will soon have to pay to flush their toilets.
In addition, about 80 families who for the past 3 months have been using the clean, treated water from the plant to water their vegetable plots will soon have to pay for the privilege. No one knows yet how high the fees will be, but IDRC, which supports the Battambang Engineered Wetland Project and currently supplies US$1,800 monthly to run the treatment plant, is helping the government find ways to make the operation support itself. Fees are one way. So is a fish farm on the site, a plan to dry sludge for fertilizer and the possibility of generating power using sewage-created biogas.
"Traditionally or culturally, water, like sunlight, is a free resource that people have never thought about paying for. Now people have to think about it," says Chou Meng Tarr, a Cambodian socio-economist who, with IDRC support, has been working with the villagers in nearby Chamka Samroung, where the treated water is being used.
Before the plant opened in December 1994, most of Battambang's sewage flowed directly into the Sangke River -- a source of drinking and irrigation water for many local residents. Another portion was diverted into a holding pond outside town, where local villagers used the sewage water directly on their gardens.
The situation is similar all over Cambodia. In the capital, Phnom Penh -- built at the convergence of the Mekong, Tonle Sap, and Bassac Rivers -- raw sewage from one million inhabitants flows into all three waterways. In the south end of town, the Beng Trabek Lake, which doubles as the city's main sewage outlet, is the site of intensive vegetable gardening.
These vegetables are sold in local markets, contributing to outbreaks of typhoid, cholera, and other contagious diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Sem Sundara, the project leader and a chemist with the Ministry of Environment, hopes that Battambang's sewage plant will change such situations by being a model for other new plants around the country.
Like Phnom Penh and other major towns, Battambang already had a network of sewage pipes, built in the 1940s during French colonial rule. However, over 21 years of war have taken their toll: entire systems are clogged. During the rainy season, many streets become wading pools of water and sewage sludge.
When the Dutch NGO Sawa began fixing Battambang's pipes, "they literally had to send down men to shovel out the stuff. They found all sorts of mines, grenades and unexploded ordinances in there," says Doug Titus, the plant's consulting biologist.
According to Sem Sundara, "In Phnom Penh, you could easily spend $6 million to $7 million just to repair the pipelines." After the pipes were cleaned and repaired, Sawa spent $460,000 to build Battambang's sewage plant, on a model called a modified, engineered wetland.
Sewage first enters detention ponds, where solids are allowed to sink to the bottom, to be later cleared out, dried, and sold as fertilizer. The dirty water is then pumped into huge oxidation ponds, where a combination of algae and sunlight causes huge fluctuations in the oxygen and pH levels of the water -- killing dangerous germs. After about 20 days, the water is pumped into a fish pond and a wetland pond, where for a further 9 days the water -- away from human contact -- loses any remaining germs.
The resulting water, although still high in nitrogen and phosphorous, meets WHO bacterial content standards for irrigation, says Tep Boonny, vice director of the provincial environment department. The nitrogen is actually a benefit to the vegetable growers of Chamka Samroung who are using the cleaned water for their gardens. Farmer Hun Sin has been using collected rainwater on half of his garden and clean water from the sewage plant on the other half. "The plants that we use the treated water on grow quicker," says Sin, who pours 200 to 400 cans of water a day on his lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs. Sin says if he had to pay for the treated water he would probably go back to using only rainwater from a pond on his land.
The new water supply has caused some upheaval in the small community. "Before, the system for dividing the water was very bad," says farmer Tlok Houn. "Some people wanted the water and plugged the canal to divert the water onto their land. Then, the next person would do the same thing. People were arguing over the water," he says, adding that two neighbours -- a sister and brother -- actually came to blows.
"The problem is that there are people who have guns ... and the ones who have guns can access the water more easily," says Chou Meng Tarr. She has worked with the community and has now set up water users' groups to try to schedule access to the water canals that flow from the treatment plant. The water users' groups will also help people understand that the sewage plant is owned by the community -- not by the NGO that built it.
"We want to raise awareness that they are responsible for their environment and must be involved in the maintenance and use of resources," she says. However, she adds, the concept of a sewage tax or fees for water will likely face resistance.
Gregory Woodsworth, a Canadian adviser supported by IDRC in the Environment Ministry in Phnom Penh, says the fees may not be popular, but they are necessary. The project "is starting to look at costing natural resources as if they do have a value. I flush my toilet every day and I don't pay for it. You can't continue that with a large population. It's not sustainable."
IDRC is currently working with the Royal Government of Cambodia to apply the lessons learned in the Battambang case to new water and sanitation infrastructure development in other areas of the country. Major tourism development investment is going into Siem Riep town, the site of the famous Ankor Wat temples, and in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville (formerly Kampong Som). It is hoped that private sector money from these develpoment projects can be used to help provide appropriate and sustainable sanitation methods to these communities, based on methods developed by the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with IDRC.
Emilia Casella, Gemini News Correspondent, reporting from Cambodia.
Sem Sundara, c/o IDRC Cambodia, POB 544, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Tel/Fax: 855 23 426581; E-mail: idrccambodia@pactok.peg.apc.org