Country water actions are stories that showcase water reforms undertaken by individuals,communities, organizations, and governments in Asia-Pacific countries and elsewhere.
Country Water ActionsCambodia: Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority: An Exemplary Water Utilityin Asia
July 2009
Cambodia's Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) isunlike a typical water utility in Asia. And it is not because ithas service efficiency, greater water productivity, orincreasing consumer base—other water utilities in the regionhave some of these traits at one time or another. PPWSA isdifferent because it has achieved all these by radicallytransforming a decrepit and war-torn water supply systemwith missing water and missing customers into a modelpublic sector water utility that provides 24 hour drinkingwater to Phnom Penh.
PPWSA: Before and AfterIndicators19932006
Staff per1,000/connections224Production Capacity65,000m
3
/day235,000m
3
/dayNon Revenue Water72%6%Coverage area25%90%Total connections26,881147,000Metered coverage13%100%Supply Duration10 hours/day24 hours/dayCollection Ratio48%99.9%Total revenue0.7billionriels34 billion rielsFinancial situationHeavysubsidyFull costrecovery
YEARS OF DETERIORATION AND NEGLECT
Cambodia’s 20-year civil warand the Khmer Rouge ruledestroyed much of PhnomPenh’s buildings andinfrastructure. The watersupply system, whose capacityshrank from 155,000 m
3
/dayin the 1960s to 65,000 m
3
/dayby 1993, was deteriorating.With century-old pipes and apoor distribution network,roughly only a quarter of thepopulation received pipedwater. PPWSA, the government-owned water supply utility, washaving trouble meeting its challenges. Employees weredemoralized, underpaid and under-qualified. Only 13% of connections had water meters, leading to inaccurate billing.Only 28% of water production was actually sold, with thecollection rate not even reaching 50%. Illegal connectionswere prolific and unaccounted for water was at a high 72%.What’s worse, PPWSA employees themselves wereresponsible for the water theft; they were installing illegalconnections at $1,000 per connection.
A CULTURE OF CHANGE
The year 1993 marked the beginning of the restoration of Phnom Penh’s water infrastructure. With the assistance of external funding agencies, particularly the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB), and through internal reforms,PPWSA transformed itself into an efficient, self-financed,autonomous organization in a city still recovering from longyears of war and civil strife.Ek Sonn Chan, a young engineer who took PPWSA’s helm,initiated a “culture of change” within the organization,starting with the education and motivation of PPWSA’s staff.This was followed by a flurry of reforms, including
streamlining the organization’s workforce
, e.g.giving more responsibility to higher management,promoting promising staff, giving higher salary andincentives to staff, fostering the spirit of teamwork,etc.
improving collection levels
, e.g. installing metersfor all connections, computerizing the billing system,updating its consumer base, confronting high rankingnonpayers and cutting off their water if they refuse topay, etc
rehabilitating the whole distribution networkand treatment plants
, e.g. hiring locals in stead of international consultants for the job, manually lookingfor the pipes as all blueprints were destroyed duringthe civil war, mobilizing the communities to reportleaks, etc.
minimizing illegal connections and unaccountedfor water
, e.g. setting up inspection teams to stopillegal connections, penalizing those with illegalconnections, giving incentives to the public to reportillegal connections, etc
increasing water tariffs to cover maintenanceand operating costs
, e.g. proposing a 3-stepincrease in tariffs over 7 years, although the 3
rd
stepdid not push through anymore because revenuesalready covered the costs by then.
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Cambodia Water Action: Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority: An Exemplary Water Utility in Asia
Cambodia Water Action: Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority: An Exemplary Water Utility in Asia
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