Joolsd wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 9:43 pm Hi,
Short answer is no, mainly because I've been in a red zone so only had three streets to walk up n down for the last month or so.
I did get in contact with an environmental group. Need to speak to the local Sankrat guy before anything else.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of environmental cleanup are you thinking about doing? Am facing a similar situation where I live.

From my view, local authorities are not that hard to deal with if you have someone who can speak Khmer well and has the right attitude. For something like this I would say you could just inform them of what you want to do. If you ask them permission you may be creating more trouble for yourself. At the same time, if they want something or want to block what you want to do you will soon find out when you "inform" them. In some cases you may get better results by talking with the clerk. Make sure you know who you're talking to when you go to the sangkat office as some people may be nosy and try to get into your business when they have no real role in it.

There is an interesting article about chinese owned banana plantations and how they defile the streams and hectares and the Khmer families that tend the crops are forced to use the water for drinking and bathing etc.
When I lived in Sihanouk my 25 unit apartment charged me for garbage disposal. After a a few months of just leaving it on the corner outside the gate to pile up a small container was provided. This container would be full in 24 hours. Then, the garbage would begin to pile up and at times be a good 10 meters long 2 wide and 1 high. If the garbage truck came...and removed it..Neighbours in the dead of night would start a new pile.
I have seen this behavior all over the World.
I am watching this storm sewer project in SR and am proud of the attempt. Most of the pipes are a meter plus in diameter. They had 5 Cat track hoes mucking out the river.
But, that river is disgusting.
It would be great if chaps like you could band together and get things done.
But, it has to be more than a one time deal.
A young man in the US not from Baltimore took it upon himself to go into the rat infested garbage lined inner city with a volunteer group and started just picking up garbage..The community was shocked this long haired white guy would give a fuck. More and more folks started pitching in.
Sadly, the planet is becoming more and more disgusting.
Check out the human excrement issue and garbage high in the mountains near Everest...
Now, we have a new plastic bottle, straw etc pollutant ...called the covid 19 mask..
I applaud your ideas and desires.
Best of luck making a difference.
As Red Green said..We are all in this together.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:16 am I'm not sure what the OP means but it's a difficult task. For example all the Stungs and Ler Tuk Sois are often packed with garbage floating on top. The authorities try to catch some of this with screens, but it's an uphill battle. Once or twice a year a dredger/excavator go down and scrape all the banks clean and carry off all the mess in barges or trucks. Some of it is from people living near the banks but a lot of it just floats down from the streets. It looks okay for a week and then it's messed up again. The same goes for any empty lot, if you clean it up it will be covered in fly-tipped garbage again not long after. Until people change their attitudes it's a bit hopeless.

Yeah it seems like there are two main problems- garbage and sewage. Garbage is a difficult problem but at least you can imagine getting people to stop littering or cleaning it up. For a sewage polluted lake, I can't really see how a civic minded person or group could clean it up. Only a relatively high level government effort, or big private sector donor, could clean it up through a waste treatment system. For Boeng Tumpun I think it's probably at the Khan level of government as it's a large area.

That's why I asked the OP cause I wanted to see what they thought they could do about it.