Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

I'm posting this in "News", because apparently it is news to the authorities concerned. The Ministry of Water Resources has discovered that the frenzy to fill in Cambodia's lakes, rivers, ponds and canals is detrimental to the environment and is causing increased flooding.
Better late than never, I suppose. Cambodia's natural eco-system is dependent on water cycles. Where is the water supposed to go in the rainy season when they have filled in all the natural places of water evacuation ? And all the canals and drains are filled with rubbish.
And now that this is news, how about some action ?

Loss of lakes creates flood concerns
Khouth Sophak Chakrya | Publication date 10 May 2020 | 21:42 ICT

Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor has expressed worry about the ability to overcome floods caused by opportunists who fill-in lakes, rivers, canals and ponds.

He requested municipal and provincial governors to create measures to properly prevent these acts.

The ministry discovered negative actions like destroying public lakes, rivers, canals and ponds and filling them with soil. It also found people blocking waterways without legal documents, according to a Friday announcement for municipal and provincial governors.

Hor requested municipal and provincial governors to implement measures to prevent these actions.

The ministry request paralleled a report by NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) which requested the authorities to prevent the destruction of lakes and other wetlands in Cambodia.

“Lakes and wetlands in Phnom Penh have been removed almost entirely. If these acts continue as expected, the city and its surroundings will face serious flooding, causing the loss of fish, natural lakes, and the livelihood of local citizens,” the STT report entitled The Last Lake in Phnom Penh said.

Since 1990, 16 of Phnom Penh’s 26 lakes have been filled with soil while the other 10 have been partially filled.

The main reason lakes have been destroyed is to build gated communities, houses and satellite cities.

STT executive director Soeung Saran urged the ministry to further observe measures implemented by expert authorities and local authorities. He claimed the removals are related to the benefits of rich and powerful people.

“The ministry should show publicly the list of state properties on ministry websites, which would enable the public to know about the data of lakes and canals. It should encourage the public to report lake removals and give rewards to those who report them.

“There must be serious measures for the rich and powerful people destroying the lakes,” Saran said.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... d-concerns

Quote ] “The ministry should show publicly the list of state properties on ministry websites, which would enable the public to know about the data of lakes and canals. It should encourage the public to report lake removals and give rewards to those who report them.


Right on. Some-one should report the filling in of Boung Kak lake . I know that when the Rainman comes back he is going to make someone renovate it back to it's former state.

Yep, and we will be able to get free banana pancakes with our 3 dollar rooms right over the waterfront once again.
and dolphins will dancing on their tails all around the lake doing tricks with pink hoola hoops
when Rainman comes back...

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2020 2:26 pm Yep, and we will be able to get free banana pancakes with our 3 dollar rooms right over the waterfront once again.
and dolphins will dancing on their tails all around the lake doing tricks with pink hoola hoops
when Rainman comes back...

Hey, come-on , your telling porkies about the pink hoola hoops , , Right ?

Duncan wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2020 3:22 pm

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2020 2:26 pm Yep, and we will be able to get free banana pancakes with our 3 dollar rooms right over the waterfront once again.
and dolphins will dancing on their tails all around the lake doing tricks with pink hoola hoops
when Rainman comes back...

Hey, come-on , your telling porkies about the pink hoola hoops , , Right ?

No, it's true - but we are both telling porkies about Rainman coming back

No shit Sherlock.


Who else read the thread title and thought this?

sam drainsy

We had a great rain in Siem Reap today...a cool breeze for a change.
PP is going to find out a great deal about their storm sewer capabilities in the coming months.
The new government controlled sanitation and canal cleaning will show its worth.
Water typically finds the easiest route to the lowest point...It does not take much for water to erode under a concrete slab and shift a structure...collapse a road..
I have seen a desert get a bit more rain than in previous years and entire housing developments moved causing clusterfucks beyond the imagination.
This happened when Las Vegas Nevada grew like gangbusters..houses floated ..pipes burst...you name it.
I suspect the same thing but with a hell of a lot more water is on the horizon.
Toss in the river dredging and it is quite unstable.

but I bet they get paid a lot of money for filling in those lakes, and thats the purpose of life if you are a buddhist or a dictator as far as I can tell, they are doing well

Long read, but worth following the link for the end of the article.

One million Cambodians under threat from development of vital wetlands – report
New sprawling development near Phnom Penh could prompt environmental catastrophe, including for the capital’s water systems
Christopher Knaus @knausc
Mon 27 Jul 2020 01.59 BST

The destruction of critically-important wetlands by politically-connected developers in Cambodia threatens to flood more than one million Phnom Penh residents, ruin the city’s wastewater system, force hundreds of families from their homes, and trigger environmental devastation, a new report has warned.

The sprawling Tompoun/Cheung Ek wetlands, just south of Phnom Penh, play a vital role in sustaining the Cambodian capital, acting as a natural store of 70% of its rain and wastewater and providing livelihoods for the more than 1,000 families who live, farm and fish in the area.

But a new report says that in 2004 developers, acting with government backing, began to gradually destroy the 1,500-hectare wetlands, filling them with sand dredged from the Mekong and Bassac rivers to prepare for the construction of a vast 2,500 hectare satellite city, dubbed “ING City”, the largest development in Cambodia.

The damning report released on Monday by an alliance of local land rights and human rights groups - Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, Equitable Cambodia, Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, and the Cambodia Youth Network – warns the development associated with ING City and other projects will destroy 90% of the wetlands, causing untold environmental damage and the potential eviction of hundreds of families.

The report, titled Smoke on the Water, warns the wetlands’ destruction will have “severe effects on the quality of life for an estimated one to two million people”, including placing one million Phnom Penh residents at increased risk of flooding.
More here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... nds-report