State of water environmental issues
4.3. Groundwater in the majority of provinces in the Tonle Sap sub-area
With groundwater being exploited in the majority of provinces of the Tonle Sap sub-Area (quantitative data from the provinces of Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey and Pailin City), an estimate of the potential groundwater per capital and by province in 1997 can be shown in the table below.
Table 2: Estimation of potential groundwater per capita and by province in 1997
| Province |
Number Productive Wells |
Average yield (l/s) |
Average Productive Depth (m) |
Estimate Average Water Volume available (l) |
Estimated Population in 2002 in Tonle Sap SA |
Average Potential Groundwater available per capita (l) |
| Kg Thom |
314 |
105 |
45 |
1,483,650 |
672,788 |
2.2 |
| Preah Vihear |
27 |
69 |
11 |
20,493 |
150,495 |
0.13 |
| Siem Reap |
62 |
672.5 |
23 |
958,985 |
842,979 |
1.14 |
| Battambang |
3 |
25 |
43.5 |
3,262 |
993,196 |
0.003 |
| Kg Chhnang |
11 |
124.5 |
49 |
67,105 |
501,551 |
0.13 |
| Pursat |
0 |
No Data |
No Data |
No Data |
438,728 |
No Data |
|
Source: Basin Development Planning – Mekong River Commission
Kampong Thom province, with 2.2 litres per capita of groundwater availability, dominates the other provinces. The situation in Battambang Province was critical in 1997 because the amount of potential groundwater available for the population is non-existent (Only three productive wells were found and had an extremely low average yield of 25 l/m.) And yet, extensive shallow groundwater reserves are known to exist around the Tonle Sap Lake and beside the Bassac and Mekong Rivers in Cambodia. Water levels in shallow and tube wells follow river heights for a distance up to 30 km on each side of the Bassac River (CIAP, 1999), which indicates that the aquifers are constantly recharging. Unfortunately, the recharge rate is slow and in some intensively irrigated areas, farmers run short of water during peak periods. Dry season rice production in Prey Veng and Takeo provinces, which used groundwater in 2001, covered an area between 5,000 and 10,000 ha (CADI), up from zero in 1995. In 1999, JICA estimated that wells in the quaternary aquifers of the Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and southern Kandal provinces can yield 500 to 800 m³ per day without having an adverse effect on the entire groundwater basin. Such pump rates would irrigate four to five hectares of rice per well. The potential for irrigation with groundwater from these aquifers is therefore quite high, if properly regulated to ensure minimal drawdown. There is insufficient recharge capacity in the aquifers for large scale irrigation projects.
References
- Cambodia National Mekong Committee. Basin Development Programme:Sub-area Analysis and Development Delta Sub-area SA-10C.
- CADI’s report. 1999
- Chrin Sokha. Environmental Challenges of Cambodia 2001,
- CIAP’s report. 1999
- Ministry of Environment. 2002
- Ministry of Environment. State of Environmental Report 2004. Basin Development Programme: Sub-area Analysis and Development Delta Sub-area SA-10C, December 2004)
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- Table of contents > 4. Groundwater
- 4.1. Groundwater resources
- 4.2. Groundwater in the study area within the Mekong River system (Takeo, Kandal, Kampong Speu, Prey Veng, Kampong Cham, Kamport, Koh Kong, and Phnom Penh Municipality)
- 4.3. Groundwater in the majority of provinces in the Tonle Sap sub-area
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