Clean water and climate protection in Cambodia

With the help of an alternative water treatment method, this project is reducing the use of environmentally harmful fuels and providing more than one million Cambodian families with access to clean and safe drinking water.

Project standard: Gold Standard

Project description

In Cambodia, almost two million rural households don’t have access to clean drinking water. As a result of the poor water quality, around 10,000 people per year – mainly children – die from the consequences of diarrhoea.

To reduce the risk of illness, it is common practice to boil the water over a wood or charcoal fire before drinking it. The wood used for this purpose is obtained from the endangered rainforests in the region, which increases the already very high rate of deforestation even further. Around 20 % of Cambodia’s forest cover has been destroyed in the last 20 years.

This project provides the local population with ceramic water filters for treating water. It thereby reduces the use of environmentally harmful fuels and cuts CO₂ emissions by around 90,000 tonnes per year.

Thanks to the alternative water treatment method, the project also provides more than one million Cambodian families with access to clean and safe drinking water.

The project also increases the regional value added, as well as creating jobs in the local factories where the ceramic water filters are made. Women in particular benefit from this.

Social and economic benefits

• Fewer health risks: The water filters can reduce the risk of diarrhoea. Due to less smoke formation in the kitchens, there are also fewer respiratory diseases.
• Support for women: Women no longer need to boil drinking water. This frees up time for them to attend training courses and carry out work organised by the project.
• Creation of jobs: New jobs are created in the local ceramics factories.
• Lower household expenditure: Households save money, as they are less dependent on having to purchase fuel.

Environmental aspects

• Reduction of greenhouse gases: The project reduces CO₂ emissions by around 90,000 tonnes per year.
• Protection of forests and biodiversity: The water filters reduce the demand for wood, which protects Cambodia’s precious forests (368 hectares) and biodiversity.