Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Final Report
5 December 2006
Prepared for
MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES AND METEOROLOGY
by
PRD Water & Environment in association with DHI Water & Environment
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North West Irrigation Sector Project
River basin and water use studies, Package 2
Revisions
Version 1: Summary expanded
Version 2: Summary expanded with 'Management issues and scope for development' (drawn
from Chapters 8 and 9)
Section 6.3 (floods) expanded with new estimates of flood flows
New Section A2.6, briefly introducing the 'Pocket calculator', with locations of
candidate sub-projcets added
Chapter 9: Title changed, chapter re-structured; new Section 9.2 (storage capacity)
with comments and suggestions about storage capacity; Section 9.4 (monitoring of
water resources) expanded, with suggestions on future monitoring of rainfall and
streamflow; Section 9.8 (fish yield and fish migration) expanded, with observations
on fish passages
Acknowledgement
The Package 2 Team expresses its sincere thanks to the staff members from the Provincial
Departments, the district officers, and the many individual persons who have kindly taken time out to
share their knowledge for the purpose of the present study. MOWRAM, the PMO, the PIUs and the
TA Consultant have provided valuable guidance and shared data and knowledge, including results
from monitoring programmes and previous related studies. MRC has kindly made data and GIS layers
available for the purpose of the study.
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Summary
General
The Northwest Irrigation Sector Project (NWISP) is being implemented by MOWRAM, with
assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). It
has the overall objective of supporting the effort of the Royal Government of Cambodia to reduce
poverty in rural areas of northwest Cambodia through enhanced agricultural production. The
immediate objectives are to improve the use of water resources and to take advantage of the potential
for irrigated agriculture.
One activity of the NWISP is a series of river basin and water use studies with the over-all objective
'to provide a framework leading eventually to institutional means for installing a scientifically
informed approach for management of water quantity and quality in the target river basins'.
The river basin and water use studies will provide a part of the basis for subsequent master planning,
and for design and feasibility studies of irrigation schemes to be conducted later on under the NWISP.
Package 2 of these studies covers Dauntri Sub-basin in Battambang and Pursat Provinces, and Boribo
Sub-basin in Pursat and Kg Chhnang Provinces (and with a small corner in Kg Speu Province).
The work has been based on data and information available from the Commune Database,
MOWRAM, MRC and others, as well as comprehensive field surveys conducted under the present
study. The analyses have been supported by numerical river basin modeling of water balance and
water quality.
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Dauntri Sub-basin
Area: 3,542 km2 (21 percent of which is more than 100 m above mean sea level)
Cultivated area (rice and other crops) (2005): 1,623 km2, of which
wet season irrigated: 17 km2 (actual), 447km2 (potential)
dry season irrigated (2 crops per year): 5 km2 (actual), 3 km2 (potential)
Population (2004): 233.509
The study area has 6 schemes that have been identified as candidate sub-projects under the NWISP.
The estimated manageable water availability at each scheme is summarized below.
The water availability is the estimated availability in 4 out of 5 years under present conditions
The estimate includes present withdrawals for irrigation; and present and future withdrawals for domestic and livestock
The estimate excludes any future expansion of irrigation withdrawals
(a) The water availability at Tram Mneash is influenced by the implementation of the Bamnak scheme and on the operation
of the Bamnak diversion. The low and high estimates are based on assumptions about the future operation
(b) The water availability at Krouch Sauch, Anlong Svay and Roneam Prayol is influenced by the operation of the Damnak
Ampil Canal. The low and high estimates are based on assumptions about the future operation
(c) The water availability at Roneam Prayol is influenced by the implementation of the Anlong Svay scheme
(d) Negative values means that water is inadequate for the assumed future domestic and livestock demand
No allocation has been made for in-stream demands
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Increased storage capacity can be achieved by (i) Traditional storage reservoirs, as they exist in many
places in Cambodia (the most famous example being the West Baray, built around 1050 and still
serving its original purpose); (ii) upstream storage reservoirs located in the mountains; (iii) in-stream
storage; (iv) optimization of retention irrigation; and (v) pumping water from the Great Lake.
Implications, advantages and disavantages are discussed in Section 9.2.
A fruitful synergy can be achieved between added storage capacity and improved operation. Apart
from a moderate additional in-stream storage, provision of storage capacity is expensive. In
comparison, improved operation (of existing and new) storage facilities can be achieved at a small
cost. This would call for improved information exchange (including weather statistics, real-time
meteorological data, and flood and rainfall forecasts), some contemporary decision-support and
management tools, related education of the involved agencies, and close dialogue with the farmers
about the time and space distribution of the available water.
Groundwater is often overlooked in connection with national water resources management, partly
because good data are either limited or not easily accessible. For several reasons (that include the
economic feasibility and a finite groundwater yield), groundwater cannot replace surface water as the
raw water source for irrigation. Still, there is an attractive potential for using groundwater for small-
scale supplementary irrigation that can in some cases highly improve the livelihoods of the farmers.
This has been clearly demonstrated elsewhere in Cambodia.
A first glance at the geology - an alluvial flood plain surrounded by mountains - indicates a high
potential for groundwater utilization in the Tonle Sap Basin. Knowledge about the groundwater
resources exists, but is incomplete and is located with different agencies and operators. Expectations
among practitioners though, indicate that groundwater yield is low in the study area.
Monitoring
Resources are finite for monitoring of water resources: Time; money; facilities; and knowledge.
Today, the monitoring is visibly affected by technical and financial constraints.
Long-term rainfall records are available from Kg Chhnang, Pursat, and Battambang, and . These
stations are particularly important, because they already have a good data coverage, so that they can
serve as references for analyses of shorter records from other stations. This is irrespective of the
difficulties experienced under the prsent study with inter-station correlations. Large parts of the study
area are elevated. Rainfall data would be useful from the elevated areas, where the rainfall is higher
than at the exisiting monitoring stations (but where access is difficult).
Evapotranspiration represents by far the most significant uncertainty in the water balance analyses,
and hereby in our knowledge about water availability. Also, assumptions about the evapotranspiration
is an important part of the basis for determination of crop requirements. Therefore, local data would
be highly useful in connection with agricultural development efforts.
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Any information about groundwater utilization, availability and quality would highly assist possible
assist future efforts to develop this resource.
Morphological changes can cause severe damage to buildings and infrastructure, and can add to the
flood risk. Monitoring of morphological developments can allow for timely intervention and control of
potential consequences.
Another aspect to keep in mind is pollution incidents, such as spills, that can cause short-term or long-
term damage to aquatic ecosystems.
The potential pollution from irrigation tailwater is best managed by promotion of good practices,
which in many cases represent 'win-win' solutions to the farmers and the environment.
For the purpose of the present study, information has been sought about evidence of observed
extraordinary flow-related impacts in the project area. The information is inconclusive, however, since
there seem to have been no such incidents. The riverine ecosystems are adapted to low or no flow
occuring annually in the dry season.
Findings under the present study indicate that in the past and today, a typical (and possibly critical)
cause-effect relationship in relation to fish habitats in the study area is as follows: (1) Structural
intervention (gates, regulators) with inadequate sediment conveyance capacity, causing (2) upstream
siltation (and downstream erosion and consequential downstream accretion); causing (3) blocking of
fish migration routes, causing changed species composition and, possibly, reduced yield.
Capacity-building
In the context of the present study, examples of relevant capacity-building topics are (i) socio-
economic, hydraulic, and environmental implications of water uses in general, and of irrigation
development in particular; and (ii) monitoring routines (water utilization, groundwater, water quality,
morphology), including cost-effectiveness and participatory techniques.
Strengthening of Water User Groups can provide a decisive (and cost-effective) contribution towards
the desired socio-eceonomic benefits of irrigation rehabilitation.
Amplification of benefits
The benefits of irrigation schemes can be amplified, or are in some cases directly dependent on
supplementary measures, such as:
• Technical support to de-central management, operation and maintenance of the irrigation
systems (by Water User Groups);
• access to proven new crops and cultivation systems, including inputs (seeds, fertilizers, etc.)
and technology;
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Several of these issues are outside the responsibility (and control) of MOWRAM. Inter-agency
networking and collaboration is required to reach the full benefits of irrigation development.
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Contents
Acronyms and abbreviations..................................................................................................................vii
Study tasks ........................................................................................................................................... viii
Terminology............................................................................................................................................ix
Names .....................................................................................................................................................ix
Location map............................................................................................................................................x
1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1
2 General geography...............................................................................................................2
2.1 Data ........................................................................................................................2
2.2 Population, administrative boundaries ...................................................................2
2.3 Elevations, land use, soils ......................................................................................3
3 Livelihoods and economics .................................................................................................5
3.1 Data ........................................................................................................................5
3.2 General ...................................................................................................................5
3.3 Cultivation..............................................................................................................6
3.4 Livestock ................................................................................................................9
3.5 Fisheries ...............................................................................................................10
3.6 Industries ..............................................................................................................10
3.7 Other livelihoods..................................................................................................11
4 Hydrology..........................................................................................................................13
4.1 Data ......................................................................................................................13
4.2 Water level in Tonle Sap......................................................................................15
4.3 Rainfall and evaporation ......................................................................................16
4.4 Streamflow ...........................................................................................................24
4.5 Groundwater.........................................................................................................27
4.6 Climate change.....................................................................................................37
5 Water uses and water balance............................................................................................38
5.1 General .................................................................................................................38
5.2 Water uses ............................................................................................................38
5.3 Water balance.......................................................................................................44
5.4 Development scenarios ........................................................................................47
6 Morphology, floods and drought .......................................................................................49
6.1 Data ......................................................................................................................49
6.2 Morphology..........................................................................................................49
6.3 Floods...................................................................................................................49
6.4 Drought ................................................................................................................57
7 Aquatic environment .........................................................................................................59
7.1 Data ......................................................................................................................59
7.2 Fish, fish habitats .................................................................................................59
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Figures
2.1: District boundaries
2.2: Land elevations around the Tonle Sap Basin
2.3: Soil suitability for paddy cultivation
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Tables
3.1: Livestock in the study area
3.2: Present change in livestock population, Cambodia
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Study tasks
No. Item Reference
Inception phase – Collection of information
1 Collection of general data and information (cross-cutting)
2 Collection of hydro-meteorological and hydraulic data and information Vol1 Sect 4.1
3 Field surveys, inspection of monitoring stations, flood damage assessment (cross-cutting)
4 Consultation meetings at province, commune and village level (cross-cutting)
5 Basic thematic maps Vol2&3 App 1
6 Approach to hydrological analysis Vol1 Sect 5.3, Vol1 App 2
7 Technical workshop with MOWRAM/PDWRAM (reported separately)
Hydrological studies and modelling
8 Review of river monitoring network Vol1 Sect 9.1
9 Hydrological analysis Vol2&3 Ch 4
10 Morphological analysis Vol1 6.2, Vol2&3 Sect 5.2
11 Flood characteristics Vol1 Sect 6.3, Vol2&3 Sect 5.3
12 Fish, fish habitats and fish migration Vol1 Sect 7.2, Vol2&3 Ch 7
13 Support to selecting candidate NWISP subprojects Vol1 Sect 9.2, Vol2&3 Sect 4.3
Analysis of water uses
14 Remote sensing analysis and field survey (cross-cutting)
15 Forestry and land use survey Vol1 Sect 2.3, Vol2&3 Sect 2.3
16 Field surveys of water uses Vol1 Sect 5.2, Vol2&3 Sect 4.1
17 Inventory of water users committees
18 Quantification of consumptive and non-consumptive water uses Vol1 Sect 5.2, Vol2&3 Sect 4.1
19 Economic analysis of water utilization Vol1 Ch 8, Vol2&3 Ch 8
20 Economic analysis of long-term development opportunities Vol1 Sect 8.4
Water balance
21 Water balance for the sub-basins Vol2&3 Sect 4.2, Vol2&3 App 4
22 Assessment of trends in water availability and demand (same)
23 Assessment of impacts of each subproject on downstream water uses Vol2&3 Sect 4.3, Vol2&3 App 4
24 NWISP candidate sub-projects (same)
Environmental aspects
25 Existing WQ data and classification Vol1 Sect 7.3
26 Point and non-point sources Vol1 Sect 7.4, Vol2&3 Sect 6.2
27 Aquatic environment in representative reaches Vol2&3 Sect 6.3
28 Environmental flows in representative reaches, and assessment of enforcement Vol1 Section 9.6
29 Evaluation of fish passages Vol2&3 Ch 7
Reports – progress meetings - workshops
30 Inception report (reported separately)
31 Sub-basin reports (reported separately)
32 Surface water and groundwater maps Vol2&3 Sect 4.2 (no GW maps)
33 Response to data shortcomings (cross-cutting)
34 Project completion report (reported separately)
35 Project completion workshops (reported separately)
36 Weekly progress statements (reported separately)
37 Liaison with RGC and provincial agencies and community representatives (cross-cutting)
38 Knowledge-sharing with designated counterpart staff (cross-cutting)
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Terminology
Following a discussion at the Inception Workshop in Pursat on 11 July 2006, and with a view to the
terminology applied in the Terms of Reference, the following suggestions are made:
Catchment boundary: The boundary of a catchment (or a river basin or a sub-catchment). The surface
flow of rain falling on each side of the boundary will proceed towards different locations. A
review of catchment boundaries is a part of the present study
River basin: The catchment of a whole river (with its tributaries). In the present study, this term is used
both for the Mekong Basin and the Tonle Sap Basin. (In some other studies, the Tonle Sap
Basin is referred to as a sub-basin of the Mekong Basin)
Study area (Package 2): The Dauntri/Svay Don Keo and the Boribo/Thlea Maam Sub-basins
Sub-basin: The catchment of a tributary, and hereby a part of river basin. The present study deals with
the Dauntri/Svay Don Keo Sub-basin and the Boribo/Thlea Maam Sub-basin
Sub-catchment: A catchment that is explicitly a part of a larger catchment. In the present study, an
irrigation scheme will receive water from a sub-catchment, and sub-catchments are used as
units for the river basin modelling of water balance and water quality
Watershed: (1) in English, same as a catchment boundary; (2) In American English, same as a
catchment. Watershed management can cover different aspects of water-related management
within a watershed, depending on the circumstances
Names
Most rivers change their names along their course, often within short distances.
Different spellings are used for many rivers, streams and locations, for example Pursat/Pouthisat,
Bamnak /Bomnork, Dauntri/Dauntry/Daun Try, Boribo/Baribour, etc.
St. Thlea Maam is also named St. Kompong Lar. MOWRAM applies the former name for data
storage, while the latter name is commonly used in the area. Also, St. Thlea Maam has been
used as the name for the adjacent St. Ou Srang in Pursat River Basin
St. Dauntri is also named St. Muong, and St. Kambot is also named St. Preahmlu.
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Location map
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1 Introduction
The Northwest Irrigation Sector Project (NWISP) is being implemented by
MOWRAM, with assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence
Française de Développement (AFD). It has the overall objective of supporting the
effort of the Royal Government of Cambodia to reduce poverty in rural areas of
northwest Cambodia through enhanced agricultural production. The immediate
objectives are to improve the use of water resources and to take advantage of the
potential for irrigated agriculture. It is intended to establish ten to twelve
rehabilitated and sustainably operational small to medium-scale irrigation systems
and other water control infrastructure.
One activity under the NWSIP is the 'River Basin and Water Use Studies, Package
2', covering the Dauntri Sub-basin in Battambang and Pursat Provinces, and Boribo
Sub-basin in Pursat and Kg Chhnang Province. This work is being carried out by
PRD Water & Environment in association with DHI Water & Environment.
The scope of the river basin and water use studies is specified in the Terms of
Reference prepared by MOWRAM. The overall objective is 'to provide a
framework leading eventually to institutional means for installing a scientifically
informed approach for management of water quantity and quality in the target
river sub-basins'.
The aim is not a master plan nor a set of feasibility studies for selected sub-
projects. Rather, the work will serve as a part of the basis for subsequent master
planning and preparations for individual projects.
Data tables and thematic maps are submitted separately. Basic documentation has
been indexed and compiled on a CD.
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2 General geography
2.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information
Various demographic information origins from the 2004 Commune Database. The
commune is the basic unit for a substantial part of the geographic, agricultural and
socio-economic data.
The Tonle Sap Basin in general witnesses the highest population growth within the
Lower Mekong Basin, with 4.8 % per year as compared with Cambodia's average
rate of 2.2/2.5 % per year (CNMC October 04, p. 30). The difference is partly
related to migration.
There are no major urban settlements (such as provincial towns) in the study area.
This influences the future population growth, which is expected to be much higher
in urban areas than in rural areas.
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Elevations
The Tonle Sap Basin forms a rather flat flood plain surrounded by mountains, as
illustrated in the following figure.
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> 500
200 - 500
100 - 200
50 - 100
30 - 50
20 - 30
10 - 20
0 - 10
The soil suitability in relation to paddy cultivation has been evaluated by MRC. As
seen in the following figure, the quality in most of the study area is marginally or
not suitable, with a small part only rated as moderately suitable. In this connection,
it is noted that paddy cultivation in general has lower requirements to the soils than
most other crops.
Moderately suitable
Marginally suitable
Not suitable
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3.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information
3.2 General
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information
Household income is a major development concern in the Tonle Sap Basin. 38% of
people living in the 5 provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap are below the official
poverty line (Chaudry and Juntopas Jan 05).
'the Tonle Sap Basin is home to nearly 3 million people, most of whom derive
their livelihoods directly from its natural resources. Around half of those
people depend on the lake and its associated wetlands, which is also the
predominant source of protein for the whole of Cambodia.
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3.3 Cultivation
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information;
and Task 16: Field surveys of water uses
Cultivation systems
Characteristic cultivation systems and cultivation cycles are shown in the figures
below, which have been compiled with guidance by provincial and district
authorities.
Typically, at one given location, only one crop will be cultivated per year - either
in the wet or in the dry season. The land of one farmer can be divided in small
plots, so that many farmers cultivate both in the dry and the wet season, but at
different plots of land.
Supplementary irrigation in the wet season (for seed beds and during dry spells) is
practiced where water is available for the purpose, which is generally in the close
vicinity of irrigation canals - often within a distance of 100 m only.
In a few places, where irrigation water is reliably available, farmers can grow 2
short-term dry season crops between mid December and mid July.
The traditional floating rice is still grown in some places, but has in recent years
been largely replaced by recession irrigated paddy or by lotus.
Other crops (including corn, potato, beans, sugar cane, pineapple and vegetables)
occupy a small part of the cultivated area but contribute significantly to the
economy.
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Upland area,
sparsely cultivated
National Road 5
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The bars show the over-all indicative duration for the study area as a whole. The duration in a specific year depends on the
water availability
The farmers do not carry out the tasks at the same time; on the contrary, they help each other (and/or draw on a shared pool of
labour for labour-intensive operations like transplanting and harvesting)
Durations in brackets are typical values for each individual farmer
Data: NWISP-2 survey 2006
In general, the cultivation is highly rain-dependent. Year by year, the national GDP is visibly
influenced by a timely and adequate rainfall.
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3.4 Livestock
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information;
and Task 16: Field surveys of water uses
Livestock comprises cows and buffaloes, pigs, and poultry (ducks and chicken).
The numbers of heads are estimated in the following table, which has been
compiled from the Commune database (listing the number of families with
different kinds of livestock) and surveys under the present study (providing
information about the typical number of heads per family).
Values are estimates for 2005, based on a combination of the Commune Database and project surveys
The following table shows recent over-all changes in livestock population for
Cambodia as a whole. More detailed (but short-term) data are available from the
Commune Database. In the recent past, the number of buffaloes has been
decreasing, while other animals have been increasing. These trends, however,
provide only an uncertain indication of the long-term development, which will
partly be market-driven and which can take place s an irregular and unpredictable
process as much as a gradual and predictable one.
Source: UNFAO, 2002. ‘Selected Indicators of food and agriculture development in Asia',
quoted by MoE (Apr 05)
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3.5 Fisheries
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information;
and Task 16: Field surveys of water uses
The Tonle Sap Basin is famous for its large fish yield and for its intense fisheries.
Capture fisheries take place in the Great Lake itself, in its tributaries, in lakes and
reservoirs, and in the paddy fields. There is also some aquaculture in the project
area, and aquaculture is expected to increase in the course of time.
The estimated fish yield of the Great Lake and the Tonle Sap river itself is
estimated as high as 139-190 kg/ha/year (by Van Zalinge et al 2001). Different, but
consistently very high estimates have been reported of the proportion of the
population that depend wholly or partly on fisheries for their livelihoods, not to
speak of their protein intake.
The yield depends on the floodplain area that is inundated in the wet season, which
in turn depends on the annual maximum flood height.
The figure shows the relationship between maximum flood level of the season and catch of the dai (bag-
net) fishery in Tonle Sap. It origins from Nicolaas van Zalinge, Deap Loeung, Ngor Pengbun, Juha
Sarkkula and Jorma Koponen: Mekong flood levels and Tonle Sap fish catches. Second International
Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, Phnom Penh, February 2003
3.6 Industries
This section relates to ToR, Task 16: Field surveys of water uses
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Tourism
It is a safe guess that tourism will emerge as a high-growth sector with significant
livelihood implications, also in the present study area.
Today, the tourism development in the study area is low, in terms of livelihoods
and value generated. This is largely due to a defunct road network that makes
access to large parts of the area next to impossible in the wet season, except by ox
cart.
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The planned upgrading of the railway in the years to come may well generate a
flow of tourists to the area, or through the area.
The tourism sector in the study area has an attractive potential for development,
supported by the location not far from Phnom Penh.
One example of a scenic spot is the Chrak La Eang site, a series of 3 waterfalls
over a reach of 1 km. There is a picnic area, toilet facilities, and a 2 kW micro-
hydropower facility. The waterfall is maintained by DOE.
Sand extraction
Some sand extraction takes place in the dry season in the lower parts of the rivers,
at places where the transport of the excavated sand is practical.
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4 Hydrology
4.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 2: Collection of hydro-meteorological and hydraulic data and
information
Data from altogether 33 rainfall stations, 7 evaporation stations, 22 water level and
17 discharge stations have been collected and screened for the present study.
Following the screening, sub-sets of the data were selected with a suitable
relevance and quality.
General
The two sub-basins covered by the present study have only few hydrological data.
Data for rainfall and evaporation are available to some extent within the sub-basins
and in neighbouring sub-basins. However the network density is low, and the
quality of the data varies. Further there are gaps in the data series. Likewise water
level and discharge measurements are sparse. Though attempts have been made,
the discharge records are hardly sufficient to produce rating curves with great
validity.
Rainfall data
Rainfall data were received partly from Ministry of Water Resources and
Meteorology (MOWRAM), the Mekong River Commission, and Department of
Meteorology. The most recent data (year 2000 to 2005) were obtained from
Department of Meteorology.
In general the network density is low. Most of the rainfall stations are located close
to the provincial and district centers, and very few in remote areas. Especially the
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mountain areas lack rainfall stations. Many of the rainfall stations have been
installed only recently (between 1997 and 2001).
The following figure and table show the rainfall stations that were selected for
analysis. Several other stations were skipped, in most cases because they were too
far from the study area.
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Evaporation data
Evaporation data from two stations were obtained from Department of
Meteorology, Pochentong and Siem Reap. A data record for the former of 5 years
from 2000 to 2005 has been provided, whereas data from the latter cover the 5
years from the period 1996 to 2000.
Catchment boundaries
The catchment boundary delineation has been done by ArcView GIS software
based on:
• Topographical map 1:50,000 and 100,000;
• Digital Terrain Model (DTM);
• river networks; and
• road and railway networks
In addition, several field checks have been made in case of doubt.
The lower parts of the study area are affected by annual flooding from Tonle Sap.
The flooding supplies water for retention irrigation and floating rice cultivation.
The water level is shown in the following figure. The annual minimum varies
within a small interval from year to year - between 0.6 and 1.0 m - while the annual
maximum varies considerably, between 6.7 m and 10.3 m in the 10-years period
considered.
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12 m
10 m
Prek
8m Kdam
6m
4m
2m
0m
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Rainfall
The normal rainfall in Cambodia is shown in the following figure. The figure is
indicative, because it was prepared in the late 90-ies on the basis of limited data. It
is seen that the rainfall in the Tonle Sap Basin is less than in most other parts of the
country.
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Rainfall data are treated as daily, monthly or annual. Because of local variation in
meteorological conditions (wind, evaporation, humidity etc.) the instantaneous
rainfall can vary substantially between neighbouring stations.
Pursat is well located in the middle of the present study area. Data are available
since 1912, but with several long gaps in the record. A series of 53 years between
1913 and 2005 has been selected for analysis, skipping years with indications of
malfunctioning or erroneous registration.
A summary of findings is presented below. Figure 4.7 and Table 4.2 show the
distribution of monthly values (month by month). Figure 4.8 and Table 4.3 show
the observed variation interval of annual values. The two sets of values are
different because - for example - a low rainfall in May does not necessarily
coincide with a low rainfall in June or July.
1986 was the year with the lowest annual rainfall in the data series (66 percent of
average), while 1995 was the year with the highest annual rainfall (158 percent of
average). The '4 out of 5 years' distribution has been estimated by scaling (as 85
percent of the average distribution).
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Data: 1913-23, 26, 28, 30, 35, 39-42, 56-63, 73, 81-05 (53 years)
Data: 1913-23, 26, 28, 30, 35, 39-42, 56-63, 73, 81-05 (53 years)
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Data: 1913-23, 26, 28, 30, 35, 39-42, 56-63, 73, 81-05 (53 years)
Data: 1913-23, 26, 28, 30, 35, 39-42, 56-63, 73, 81-05 (53 years)
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Data: 1913-23, 26, 28, 30, 35, 39-42, 56-63, 73, 81-05 (53 years)
With a study area that spans some 100 km from north to south, some 180 km from
west to east, and more than 1,700 m vertically, a visible rainfall variation within
the area is expected beforehand. Unfortunately, however, the data do not allow for
a safe conclusion regarding the spatial variation:
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It is seen that the analysis is clearly inconclusive. The figures confirm a general,
slight decrease in rainfall along the Great Lake, in the direction from Kg Chhnang
towards Battambang. On the other hand, the pattern is far from clear, and in
general, the rainfall decreases from low-lying stations towards more elevated
stations, which is opposite of what would have been expected. This is due to the
short period (of 4 years only), but also - and more significant - an rather low
correlation between the stations.
Figure 4.7: Monthly average rainfall at Kravanh and Svay Donkeo (mm/month)
The low correlation is partly due to the rainfall being highly influenced by 'events'
(like thundershowers) that are confined in time and space. It is a surprise, however,
that a pattern does not seem to exist on a monthly (or even annual) basis, where
one would expect that some apparent relationship would emerge even between
distant, monsoon-affected rainfall stations in Southeast Asia.
The uneven distribution of rainfall over time is illustrated in the following figure,
where the percentage contribution to the annual rainfall is shown for the most rainy
day, the 2 most rainy days, the 3 most rainy days, and so forth. On the average
(over the 53 years considered), the most rainy day will provide 7.4 percent of the
annual rainfall, while the 16 most rainy days in a year provide more than half of the
annual rainfall.
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A comparison was made between Pursat, Battambang and Kg Chhnang, where data
are available from all three stations in 7 years. Results are shown in the table
below. The analysis has been made for monthly and annual values, with only the
latter shown in the table. Values are clearly uncorrelated, even on an annual basis.
Interestingly, this analysis supports the 'normal' rainfall shown in Figure 4.6, while
being based on different years. It makes good sense that the rainfall in Pursat is
higher than in Battambang but lower than in Kg Cham. With a distance of 185 km
between the Battambang and Kg Chhnang rainfall stations, this dataset indicates a
gradient of the annual rainfall along the Great Lake of 1.3 mm/year per km in the
direction from Battambang past Pursat towards Kg Chhnang.
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Evaporation
Evaporation data are sparse. The following figure and related table are based on 9
station-years of 'accepted' data from two different stations - Battambang and
Pochentong, which are located on each side of the study area. There was no overlap
between the 'accepted' records, but the difference between the stations remained
within 5 percent on an over-all average basis. The average variation from one year
to another on a monthly basis was +/- 24 percent.
The actual evaporation will be less than the pan evaluation values, depending on
the so-called pan coefficient and also on the vegetation cover (that varies very
much over the year in the study area). In view of the uncertainties, a conservative
estimate of 0.7 times the pan evaporation has been applied. An alternative, but less
accurate estimate would be that the ratio between the actual evaporation and the
pan evaporation varies between 0.7 in the wet season and half of that value in the
driest month, when soils are dry and the vegetation is defoliated (without leaves),
so that little evaporation can take place. The distribution between these values can
for example reflect the monthly annual rainfall. Hereby, the average ratio between
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pan evaporation and effective evaporation becomes 0.51. This estimate is presented
in the table below It has been included because it may possibly reflect reality better
than the more traceable estimate. It should be applied with caution, though.
Data: Free estimates based on Battambang and Pochentong, corrected with a pan coefficient varying
between 0.7 and 0.35
4.4 Streamflow
This section relates to ToR, Task 9: Hydrological analysis
The relation between the rainfall and runoff is likely to be better on bi-weekly or
monthly time scale rather on a daily scale. One source of uncertainty in the present
study is that the discharges are mostly rated and that the number of rainfall stations
are few and of different quality.
In the course of the study possible relations between rainfall and runoff will be
explored. However, at this stage it is envisaged that the outcome may be less
successful. It is thought that the rainfall-runoff modelling with MIKE Basin will
give a more consistent picture of the relations and processes.
Examples of relations between rainfall and runoff is seen in the figures below,
where the average monthly rainfall is plotted against the average monthly runoff at
Maung Russey and at Boribo respectively. There is no clear tendency, but the data
suggest that threshold values of rainfall exist in order to generate substantial runoff.
One problem with this kind of plots is that the seasonal development of e.g. soil
saturation is embedded in the data. Hence a moderate rainfall in the late monsoon
period may give a higher runoff than a similar amount of rainfall occurring in the
beginning of the monsoon.
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Figure 4.10: Average monthly rainfall Figure 4.11: Average monthly rainfall
versus runoff, Maung Russey versus runoff, Kg.Tralach
40
Boribo (m3/s)
30 20
(m3/s)
25
15
20
15 10
10
5
5
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 100 200 300
Average monthly rainfall at Maung Average monthly rainfall at
(mm/month) Kg.Tralach (mm/month)
In this study, the rating curves were used to generate rated discharge for the periods
in which daily water levels exist at the stations. Discharge was generated upto year
2001, provided that water level data existed at the stations. In the present study the
same rating curves are applied to generate discharge upto year 2005.
The table below shows the periods for the relevant stations for which discharge
data is generated on basis of available water level data.
The extension of stream flow records is extremely useful, even though the data
basis for their derivation is limited. The reason is that the records provide a basis
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for model calibration (see next section), and comprise (together with the actual
observations) the only information on runoff from the catchments under study.
If two stations within the same catchment are selected then a correlation can be
expected. In Figure 4.12 the rated discharge at Peam (upper part of Stung Pursat) is
plotted against the rated discharge at Bac Trakoun (lower part of Stung Pursat).
Although there is some scatter in the data, there seems to be a trend between the
two data sets. There are several ways to plot the discharges. In Figure 4.13 the
square root of the product of the two discharges are plotted against the discharge at
Peam. The correlation is acceptable.
Figure 4.12: Rated discharge at Bac Trakoun Figure 4.13: Discharge relation between
versus that of Peam, year 2001 Bac Trakoun and Peam, year 2001
Rated discharge at Bac Trakoun versus rated Discharge relation between Bac Trakoun and
discharge at Peam, year 2001 Peam, rated daily data year 2001
250 250
y = 0.5874x - 1.8781
200
Daily discharge at Peam [m3/s]
150 150
100 100
50 50
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Daily discharge at Bac Trakoun [m 3/s] Sqrt(Q_BacTrakoun * Q_Peam )
The extension of the stream flow record at Boribo has been made in order to obtain
a longer period for which the NAM model could be calibrated. At the outset of the
model calibration all years 1998-2005 were used. However the general fit between
simulation results and rated discharge was not satisfactory when all years were
applied. The reason is likely found in the somewhat different runoff pattern (as
predicted by the rated discharge) for the years 2002-2005, see figure 4.12 in
Tech.Rep. No.1. The dry season flows in this period show unusual fluctuations,
and the total volume during floods are less than previous years. This could of
course be attributed to a change in hydrology, but it is suggested that a change in
the flow distribution at Bamnak in recent years (confirmed by interview of local
people at Bamnak) plays a stronger role. Therefore the original period 1998-2001
as used in the WUP-JICA study was used in the present study for model
calibration.
The rating curve at Stung Dauntri was less useful, as there were no additional water
levels available to derive a rated discharge.
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The extension of the stream flow record at Pursat was useful in the sense that rated
discharges from relatively recent years (2001-2003) could be used to derive the
flows available for the Damnak Ampil channel.
4.5 Groundwater
This section relates to ToR, Task 9: Hydrological analysis
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Arsenic in groundwater
• Wells with high arsenic concentrations are generally found in the immediate vicinity of the
Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap and some smaller rivers
• The contaminated wells were located within the alluvial floodplain sediments of the modern or
Holocene geological era. However, not all wells within these geological units are
contaminated.
• The older (Pleistocene era) “platform and terrace deposits” that flank the modern floodplain
sediments are not associated with high arsenic concentrations (>50? g/L) but often have
groundwater with arsenic levels in the 10-50 μg/L range.
• The broad flood plains (flooded forest) surrounding the Tonle Sap lake are generally low in
arsenic.
• None of the wells developed in basement rocks or basalts have been found to have elevated
arsenic levels.
The arsenic testing program in Cambodia confirmed that arsenic contamination is generally
associated with tube-wells rather than open wells. Testing has also confirmed that, in general, very
shallow wells (< 15m) are not significantly contaminated with arsenic.
The flood plain surrounding the Great Lake are classified as 'Zone 2 - Low Risk'. The risk of arsenic
exceeding 50 ? g/L in this zone is only 0.2% but about 5% of the tube-wells in this zone have
moderately elevated arsenic levels (10-50 ? g/L).
Some exposure to arsenic may occur through consumption of vegetables, rice and meat but in
general arsenic intake via these routes is not high and the arsenic is primarily in organic forms which
are considerable less toxic, however, it should be noted that the importance of food as a source of
dietary arsenic in Cambodia is not well characterised at present.
It is emphasized that more knowledge about the subject is desirable.
(Fredericks, Jan 04)
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Geological setting
The base level of the study area is at the surface of the Great Lake, about 9 m
above sea level. From there the plain rises gradually to20m above sea level at
Battambang. On the south the plain merges rather abruptly with the Chuar Phnum
Kravanh. The predominant formation, occupying the vast central plain, is the
Young Alluvium. In the Chuar Phnum Kravanh mountain massif to the south is a
complex at consolidated sedimentary rocks associated with intrusive and extrusive
igneous rocks. No Old Alluvium is mapped in the south at the base at the Chuor
Phnum Kravanh. Apparently there has been subsidence, so. that active erosion at
the mountains has buried any Old Alluvium beneath a mantle at Young Alluvium.
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From this source, only one well record is available in Pursat and it was of an
unproductive well. The well, PS1, was located in Subdivision of the Public Works
Pursat (in those time). The log is shown in the table and the figure below.
From the same source, there are 22 wells drilled and record in Khet Kampong
Chhnang. The wells are distributed in three of the five sroks. Around the capital,
Kampong Chhnang, 7 of 11 wells were productive. In Srok Kampong TraIach,
only two wells were drilled for water, and both were productive. Seven holes were
drilled as foundati,on tests to an average depth of 11.6 m. Two successful wells
were drilled at Phumi Romeas in Srok Toek Phos. The water wells range in depth
from 18 to 80 m and are 36.7 m deep on the average. The wells range in yield from
49 to 200 l/min and yield 114 l/min on the average.
The table below contains all the logs of 22 well s in Kampong Chhnang Province.
For details, please refer to the electronic data table Wells-KgChhnang.xls.
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In addition to the survey mentioned above, 5 geo-resistivity transects have been mapped in Kampong
Chhnang Provincial Town by PRD in connecgtion with a study of groundwater potential under the
'Urban and peri-urban water supply project'. The location of those survey lines are listed below.
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The geo resistivity survey shows a low resistivity formation from the surface to 20-
35m, and a high resistivity formation from 35 m to the bottom of these inversions.
The low resistivity formation was interpreted as unconsolidated sediment present
as recent alluvial. The high resistivity formation was interpreted as basement rock.
The yields are estimated per well and general upper and lower estimated bounds
based on resistivity value are used. As general experience in Cambodia, the
interpreted type of weather rock and alluvial fine sand with resistivity range from
35 to 60 Ωm have an estimate yield of 50 to 250 m3/day.
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During the present study, information was collected about 21 wells in Boribo and
Dauntri Sub-basins, as indicated in the following table. Reference is made to the
electronic data table for additional information.
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Also, the hard rock of mountains are expected to yield little water to the wells. The
most productive area for ground water is probably the terrace plain of the old
alluvium.
There are two types of aquifer in the study area: Shallow aquifer and aquifer in
basement rock. The shallow aquifer is draws groundwater from unconsolidated
alluvium or recent alluvium from the surface to 30-40m depth. This formation is
dominanted by clay and silty clay so yield is not high, about 0.5 to 6m3/h. The
aquifer in basement rock is the aquifer that take the water from hard rock. Most of
these wells are from 30-100m in depth. These aquifers have a high risk of being
non-productive. Typical yields are 2 to 8m3/h.
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A speculative outlook for the possible over-all effects of climate change is offered
by MRC (Nov 05) (p. 22):
'The study results [published by Arora and Boer (2001)], using a general global
climate circulation model] predicted that over land, precipitation would decrease
by 2 per cent and evaporation would increase by 2 per cent. These two effects
would combine to reduce freshwater supply to the oceans by 14 per cent. ...
According to the model, runoff and river discharge decrease in a warmer world.
Results for the Mekong predict lower mean annual flows and floods but the
seasonal distribution of water remains the same. Flood season volumes would
decrease by 15 per cent'.
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5.1 General
This section relates to ToR, Task 6: Approach to hydrological analysis
A distinction will be made between (i) the water availability; (ii) the water demand;
and (iii) the actual water use. These key characteristics are linked as far as
production systems and livelihoods have, in the course of centuries, adapted to the
water availability. For the purpose of analysis and decision-support, however, they
can be regarded as independent.
This clear distinction is not a matter of course in water resources analyses, but it is
believed that it will provide a robust and useful analysis - much in the same line of
thought as when an economic analysis distinguishes between revenue and costs.
Scope for
infrastructural
development
Overview
The current water utilization in Cambodia is summarized in the table below. The
following characteristics apply:
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• Irrigated cultivation is the predominant use. The demand is much higher than
the actual use, which is limited by the irrigation infrastructure
• Domestic uses are characterized by a large span between urban households
with piped water supply and rural households with shared or no water supply.
The distribution is the limiting factor in all areas that are not covered by
public supplies directly to each household
Today, in the project area, with its large rural population, domestic water uses are
limited by the infrastructure (withdrawal capacity and distribution capacity), and
also, in some places and in part of the year, by the immediate raw water
availability. Most villagers (and some urban households) must either carry the
water to their homes or have it delivered by vendors in part of the year.
Therefore, in Cambodia today, people in urban areas use much more water (65,1
l/p/d) than the rural population (20,7 l/p/d) (2001, according to MRC Jun 03)1.
It is expected that the present consumption is not a safe guideline in relation to the
future demand, which, in the course of time, inevitably will be affected by new
lifestyles and consumer patterns. (These will not only influence the volumes of
water used, but also the volumes of wastewater generated).
1
Other sources present somewhat different values
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Because of the small volumes, conflicts of interest between domestic and other
water uses are not expected to be significant. Still, when managing the water
allocation, priority must be given to domestic uses.
Fot the present study area, the over-all population growth will inevitably be
affected by migration, and the effect of urbanisation may be negative, since there
are no urban centres (such as provincial towns) in the study area. National gross
values, as listed below, may be misleading. In fact, the possibilty exists that the at a
certain stage, the population of the study area will stagnate, and, later on, decrease,
reflecting an anticipated shift of livelihood opportunities from rural to urban areas,
as well as new agricultural technologies with a much higher labour efficiency.
Another effect to be considered is that the statistics register the people's home
address, but not where they actually live (and consume water). An increasing part
of the rural population have their livelihood (and their actual, although perhaps
temporary address) in urban centres. This effect will be more pronounced in the
years to come because of the increase in the (presently quite low) average age. 2
If so, as seen in the table below, the future domestic demand will be somewhere
between 3 and 6 times the present demand.
2
43 percent of the population was below 15 years in 2002 (World Resources Institute)
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This is still a small part of the available water in the area, but the increase must be
kept in mind in connection with the predicted increased demand for other purposes,
particularly irrigation.
Today, the agricultural water uses are limited both by the raw water availability
and by infrastructural constraints. In the course of time, however, as the
infrastructural constraints are gradually removed, the raw water availability will
become the sole limiting factor.
Table 5.3: Typical unit demands for irrigation, traditional paddy cultivation
Water use Demand
Crop demand and infiltration 1 l/s/ha or 10 mm/day,
minus direct rainfall
Conveyance losses 1 l/s/ha or 10 mm/day, highly depending on system layout,
maintenance, and operation
Return flows From 50-100 mm/crop and up to 1 l/s/ha or 10 mm/day,
depending on water availablity
The agricultural water use is highly influenced by the actual crops and cropping
cycles, and by the applied technology. Apart from infrastructural upgrading of
water storage and distribution, the development will include new technologies and,
expectedly, higher water efficiencies and much higher economic efficiencies of
water utilisation. As it is the case with the domestic water uses, the present use can
provide little more than an indication of the future demand, and experience from
elsewhere must be included in the assessment.
As illustrated by the following table, the future irrigaction demand depends not
only on the planned rehabilitations and expansions of irrigation systems, but also
very much on the crops and the cultivation routines. Apart from different rice
varieties having different demands of water, crops other than rice will generally
have a lower (or even much lower) demand as compared with rice. In broad
general, such crops can at the same time represent a higher market value (but have
different needs in terms of distribution, and may impose various risks to the
farmers).
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Note: Various irrigation losses and post-harvest loses are not included
Source: Hoekstra and Hung (2002), Appendix III, pp. 3, 6, 9, 12 (Example, Thailand 1999) (a similar
pattern has been reported from Viet Nam and elsewhere)
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One exception is mining, which can require large volumes of water for ore
processing and can generate water pollution by sediments and by residues of
processing chemicals. There is no mining in the present study area, however
(except small-scale sand extraction form the rivers).
In the course of time, businesses and industries are expected to become more
important in the project area terms of livelihoods and economy, in accordance with
clear trends elsewhere in Cambodia. The significance of an adequate water
allocation will increase accordingly.
Hydropower: The demand of electricity is high, and increasing, and the economic
viability of largescale and small-scale hydropower production increases
accordingly.
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In-stream water uses must be duly kept in mind in connection with over-all water
resources allocations. They are closely related to the ecological demand (or the
'environmental flows'), as well as to the tourism and recreation sector with its
attractive development potential.
Table 5.7: Water level, surface area and volume of the Great Lake
Elevation Area (km2) Volume (MCM)
0.5 0 0
0.6 21 1
0.8 666 70
1.0 1,379 274
1.2 1,874 600
1.4 2,125 999
1.6 2,325 1,444
2.0 3,611 2,631
3.0 4,671 6,772
4.0 5,828 12,022
5.0 7,218 18,545
6.0 8,518 26,413
7.0 9,690 35,517
8.0 10,935 45,830
9.0 12,198 57,397
10.0 13,352 70,172
11.0 14,330 84,013
12.0 15,243 98,800
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A water balance for the Great Lake has been established by various sources, see
e.g. (MRC-WUP-JICA, Mar 04b) and (Carbonnel and Guiscafre). The water
balance (based on volume) has the following components, by order of significance:
1 Exchange with the Mekong via the Tonle Sap
2 Runoff from the lake's own catchment area
3 Exchange with the Mekong by overland flow
4 Direct rainfall on the lake
5 Evaporation from the surface of the lake
The catchment area of the Great Lake (if delineated at Kg Chhnang) is some
61,365 km2 minus the varying area of the lake itself (of between some 2,500-3,000
km2 and up to around 10-14,000 km2).
It is noteworthy that the largest monthly contribution of runoff from the Lake's own
catchment always occurs in October. October is also the month where the flow is
reversed in Tonle Sap river and water flows out of the lake. Therefore the net
volume contribution becomes negative.
The implication of this is that the maximum water levels in the lake does not
coincide with the maximum runoff from the Tonle Sap Basin itself. This aspect is
worthwhile remembering in the present study, where we are concerned about
flooding both from the catchment and from the lake.
Table 5.8: Water balance for the Great Lake (example, 2000)
Month Direct Evaporation From catchment From Mekong From Mekong Total
rainfall via Tonle Sap by overland flow
km3 km3 km3 km3 km3 km3
A 0,3 -0,3 0,4 -2,6 0,0 -2,2
M 0,3 -0,3 0,3 1,5 0,0 1,9
J 0,4 -0,4 0,8 9,3 0,0 10,1
J 1,6 -0,6 2,6 20,1 3,1 26,8
A 1,7 -0,7 2,4 10,0 3,8 17,1
S 2,3 -0,6 4,0 5,4 8,4 19,4
O 3,9 -0,7 6,8 -20,6 -1,2 -11,8
N 0,1 -0,7 3,9 -23,6 -1,7 -21,9
D 0,1 -0,7 1,3 -20,0 0,0 -19,3
J 0,2 -0,7 0,4 -15,3 0,0 -15,3
F 0,1 -0,7 0,1 -9,6 0,0 -10,0
M 0,3 -0,6 0,5 -6,7 0,0 -6,4
Total 11,3 -7,0 23,5 -52,1 12,4 -11,6
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Figure 5.2: Water balance for the Great Lake (example, 2000)
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River basin modeling system: Software used to develop the specific river basin models useful for
the present studies. As hydraulic and hydrologic laws are quite universal, it can be used for river
basins everywhere in the world. It is not a specific development for Cambodia context.
River basin model: The specific representation of a river basin (hydrological process, water uses,
hydraulics structures) using a river basin modeling system or developing a specific code.
The water balance for each individual subcatchment within both the Boribo and the
Dauntri catchments are derived on the following relation:
Through the MIKE Basin results it is possible to extract the above to assess the
water balance. In the various tables of water balance in the report, infiltration is
included in ‘Storages and losses’.
It can be taken as a matter of fact that the future water demand and the future water
utilization will be different from today's. Possibly, the present conditions, as
described in the preceding sections, provide only a vague indication of the future
conditions.
Some scenarios for water use development are listed in the following table.
The scenarios are indicative and conceptual, with an uncertain time frame. For
example, while present production systems are socially unsustainable (because
people will remain in poverty as long as they prevail), it is difficult to predict
which production systems will eventually replace them: High-yield and high-
intensity, or perhaps low-yield organic niche production with a high added value.
In general, the implications for the water demand can be positive as well as
negative.
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6.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 2: Collection of hydro-meteorological and hydraulic data and
information
6.2 Morphology
This section relates to ToR, Task 10: Morphological analysis
Bank erosion and accretion takes place along the alluvial reaches of rivers and
streams, sometimes as a gradual process that proceeds for years in a predictable
way, and sometimes rather abruptly. In the present study area, the erosion rate is
generally slow to moderate.
6.3 Floods
This section relates to ToR, Task 11: Flood characteristics
The severity of floods depends on the time and the duration of the inundation. In
rural parts of the Cambodian flood plains, people speak of a ‘beautiful flood’ if the
time and level is such that water and nutrients is abundantly available for
cultivation, while damages are negligible. A 'beautiful flood' is one slightly higher
than normal, like the one in 2003. The cultivation will suffer both if the peak of the
flood is significantly lower and significantly higher than this.
The fish yield and the fisheries will benefit in proportion to the flood height. In
consequence, an extreme flood is traditionally regarded as 'bad for rice - good for
fish'.
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In the study area, these floods occur in the lowermost parts only. They are quite
regular, even if small deviations from 'normal' can cause severe inconveniences -
because cultivation systems and infrastructure have adapted to the high regularity.
Also the aquatic ecosystem has adapted to the regularity; benefits of floods occur
in case of regular, rather that irregular floods.
The annual minimum water level is fairly similar from one year to another, varying
between around 0.6 and around 1.2 m above sea level, while the annual maximum
water level varies around 6.7 m and around 10.3 m above sea level, within an
annual range of between around 6.1 m and around 9.3 m (Prek Kdam 1995-2004),
as illustrated below.
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Many flood-related damages are seen to present structures in the area. In their
comprehensive 1994 inventory, Halcrow notes that '.. there is often insufficient
provision to pass flood flows safely, resulting in damage to reservoir embankments
and structures... The 1991 flood caused significant damage, although its return
period has been estimated at not more than 15 years.' 3
The extent of such floods depends on the rainfall intensity, the land use in the
catchment, and the flow resistance in the river: Reduced flow resistance upstream
and increased flow resistance downstream (for example due to morphological
developments) will add to the flood risk at a given location, while increased flow
resistance upstream and reduced flow resistance downstream can reduce the flood
risk, within limits.
Unfortunately, there is no firm information available from within the study area.
Also, the the information from adjacent rivers - St. Pursat and (further away) St.
Sangker - is somewhat inconclusive. The table above origins from a previous
study. It shows that for St. Pursat, the average annual peak flow is estimated at 0.20
m3/s/km2, while for example the estimated 50-years peak flow is estimated at 0.48
m3/s/km2. Some other rivers are listed for comparison. The estimate for St.
Sangker is around twice as high, while other Tonlse Sap tributaries (further away,
and with much higher catchment areas) are much lower. (The value will generally
decrease with the area of the catchment, because an extreme rainfall is likely to
cover a confined part of the catchment only).
Source: CTI and DHI (Aug 03), Appendix 2.2, Table 2.11
3
Halcrow (Apr 94) Vol. 1 p. 12-13
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A more detailed analysis has been made of the rather short time series from St.
Pursat and St. Boribo, and a very short (19 months) series from St. Dauntri.
The following figure shows time series plots of flow from each station, in order to
illustrate the general pattern of seasonal varability.
In the record from St. Pursat, flows higher than 500 m3/s occur from August to
early December, whie flows higher that 88 m3/s occur in September and October.
A visible difference is seen between the records from St. Pursat and St. Boribo.
This is because the St. Boribo record includes the years 1999 and 2000, which were
strongly atypical with respect to rainfall distribution, with a very rainy pre-
monsoon (or an early onset of the monsson). This anomaly was observed all over
the country. The St. Pursat record does not include these two years.
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Figure 6.2: Time series of flow in St. Pursat, St. Boribo and St. Dauntri
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The records have been analysed for extreme flows. Different approaches were
tried, and the following was selected because it was more robust (and
conservative): The highest flow in each year was selected, trading a bit of the data
coverage for an assurance that the events were in fact entirely independent. These
annual maximum flows were ranked and fitted to a logarithmic, linear regression
line from which the return periods were read. The applied fits are shown in the
figure below, and results are presented in the following table.
Figure 6.3a: Regression line for annual maximum flows, St. Pursat
10,000 m3/s
y = -0,0335x + 3,0874
1,000 m3/s
100 m3/s
0 2 4 6 8 10
Figure 6.3b: Regression line for annual maximum flows, St. Boribo
400 m3/s
y = -0,0339x + 2,3295
200 m3/s
100 m3/s
0 2 4 6 8
Figure 6.3c: Regression line for annual maximum flows, St. Dauntri
200 m3/s
y = -0,3645x + 2,6919
100 m3/s
0 1 2
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Although the data coverage is less than ideal (and outright inadequate in the case of
St. Dauntri), it is seen that the extreme specific flows resemble each other quite
well. This indicates the possibility that a fair estimate can be made of flows that
occur with return periods like the ones listed in the table.
Direct rainfall
The direct rainfall is of interest for design of distribution canals and drainage
systems.
Information about extreme daily rainfall is available from the 53 years record from
Pursat. In this series, there were 3 incidents of clearly independent extreme rainfall
events, that deviated from the general pattern, as shown in the following figure:
210 mm/day on 25 October 1996
178 mm/day on 18 October 1958
164 mm/day on 18 September 1919
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The figure shows 53 annual maximum values sorted by rank. Data: Pursat 1913-2005 (53 years)
In 6 out of 10 years, the highest annual rainfall will occur in August, September or
October. In the 53 years record, the highest annual rainfall never occurred in
December, January nor February.
A recent ilustration of inland floods is shown in the figure below. The inundation is
caused by a combination of direct rainfall, flow from upstream, and deliberate
retention (on paddy fields).
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6.4 Drought
hThis section relates to ToR, Task 9: Hydrological analysis
Droughts can be related both to the stage (of the Mekong mainstream) and to the
direct rainfall. A distinction may be made between different kinds of drought:
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• Wet season droughts related to a low flood pulse or an irregular or late onset
of the annual flood. A severe flood-related wet season drought occurred in
1998
• Wet season droughts related to irregular rainfall during the onset of the
monsoon, or - worse - to less than normal rainfall in the 'small dry season' in
July and August
• A low annual minimum flow in the Mekong (on a monthly or seasonal time
scale). Droughts of this type occurred in 2005 and 2006. This type of drought
has less severe impacts in Cambodia, because few cultivation systems depend
on the mainstream flow at this time of the year, but the impacts in the Delta
can be significant. The damage is related to intrusion of saline water from the
sea, affecting both urban and domestic water supplies and cultivation
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7 Aquatic environment
7.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 25: Exisiting WQ data and classification
Data used in the evaluation and assessment of the aquatic environment is mainly
from the commune database 2004 as presented in the previous chapters regarding
population and livestock estimates.
Besides this also satellite images from LandSat 2005 have been used in the analysis
including data on landuse from 1993, 1997 and 2002.
No water quality data have been available for the studied sub-catchments. Only
data from Tonle Sap Lake have been available to a limited extent.
No monitoring data on water quality has been available for the study areas. Thus,
the results presented in the chapter do not reflect calibrated concentration level.
Instead pollution loads and water quality parameters have been adjusted to reach
expected concentrations levels based on measurements available from rivers in the
coastal area of Cambodia.
It is well known that fisheries have a high social and economic significance in the
Tonle Sap Basin. The particular social value is related to the following
circumstances:
Fisheries provides an alternative subsistence during agricultural failures;
Fisheries can generate an income with little capital investment; and
Fisheries is largely independent on land ownership.
It is noted that the value is extremely high in the Tonle Sap itself and its Great
Lake, but somewhat less in areas that are not affected by the regular annual floods.
The fish stock and the fisheries varies from one place to another within the project
area. The impacts of physical interventions, and the viability of potential mitigation
measures are correspondingly site-specific.
The main ecologically fish related compartments of all the studied river basin areas
are the river, the rice fields, the flooded forest and the Tonle Sap Lake. In the wet
season the lake water extends far into the downstream part of the basin. The
floodplain and the flooded forest form spawning and nursery grounds for a large
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number of fish, both in terms of species and quantity. The passageways between
these ecological compartments have sustained the fishery resources of these
lowland rice fields of Cambodia.
The downstream areas of the studied river basins form and extensive floodplain
with numerous creeks, waterways and permanent water bodies such as oxbows and
marshes. These areas are where the fisheries, especially family scale fisheries are
importantly practiced.
The fish found in the seasonally inundated areas belong to two categories. Some species depend on
the upstream/adjacent perennial pools/lakes and swamps, or even local perennial water for their dry
season habitat, from where the adult fish migrate downstream or just laterally. They spawn in the
seasonal waterbodies: Floodplains, ricefields, seasonal swamps and lakes. These species belong to
a category normally referred to as 'black fish'. They are tolerant to the water quality conditions, which
are typical for small waterbodies (irrigation canals, swamps, small perennial lakes, etc). Many
species are especially adapted to low oxygen concentrations and can survive for extended periods of
time by using atmospheric oxygen. These fish normally follow the water level and stop their migration
when the physical conditions are acceptable. This means that they follow the increased water levels
at the onset of the rainy season and colonise all available wetland, including the flooded rice fields.
The 'black fish' have adapted food requirements so that they in general are carnivorous or
omnivorous.
The other ecotype is called the 'white fish'. Fish belonging to this type are generally more migratory
than the 'black fish'. The often undertake long seasonal migrations; both up-and downstream in
mainstreams and laterally into floodplains and ricefields. Many of the 'white fish' species have an
opportunistic life cycle: They are often short-lived and are highly reproductive. They often congregate
in schools that can be of impressive size.
In perennial rivers fish belonging to both ecotypes can be expected to occur all year. The number of
migratory species and the overall biomass of migratory species will increase during the periods of
up- and downstream migration. These periods are closely associated with the increase in water
levels. Fish that survive in pools ponds and lakes in the upstream reaches will normally start to
migrate or spread laterally and downstream when the seasonal rains take effect on the water levels.
Some of the 'white fish' spend the dry season far up-stream in the Mekong River or its larger
tributaries and start their downstream migration towards the Chaktomuk area, enter the Tonle Sap
and its adjacent floodplains, rivers, and canals, when the water levels allow. After spawning and
living in the rivers, floodplains, ricefields, canals and swamps the fish follow the receding water.
During the upstream migration but particularly during the downstream migration, these fish are
subject to a large fishing pressure from all categories of the Cambodian inland fisheries: Family-,
semiindustrial and industrial fisheries. They constitute the backbone at least in terms of volume of
these fisheries and provide a very important source for animal protein of all sorts - direct human
consumption as fresh, smoked, dried, fish sauce, fermented ('prahok') or indirect as feed for farm
animals especially chicken or feed for fish kept and transported live in large cages (snakeheads and
Pangasius Spp.)
Presently work is undergoing under the MRC for producing Water Quality
Objectives (WQOs) and for providing Water Quality Criteria (indicators and target
values) to support the WQO for the Mekong Basin, see MRC-WUP (Jun 05):
Integrated Water Quality Management Rep. 1 (draft).
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“To maintain the water quality in all reaches of the Mekong River so the risk
to human health from domestic or other human contact uses will not
increase”
Water Quality Criteria (i.e. Indicators and Target Values) which can be used to
assess performance against the WQO have been proposed for potentially hazardous
constituents in river water. In general, the order of priority for managing water for
the protection of public health is to:
• Ensure an adequate supply of microbiologically safe water
• Manage chemical contaminants known to cause adverse health effects, and
• Address other chemical contaminants
In the water quality criteria proposed no indicators or target values have been
proposed for the last category of contaminants.
E.coli has not been measured in Cambodia as a routine parameter, where only
sporadic measurements of total coliforms have been made, and this parameter can
not be directly related potential human health hazards. Similarly the additional
parameters given for Human Contact have not been carried out in Cambodia
before.
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• protected public water areas which are used by the public, such as rivers; and
Cambodian legislation also includes a National Standard for source water that is
used for domestic purposes namely “Water Quality Standard in public water areas
for public health protection”. This standard is based on the WHO Drinking Water
Quality Guidelines (MIME 2004)
In the table below, some of the values provided in the Cambodian National Surface
Water Quality Standards have been summarised for the most relevant parameters.
For fulfilling the requirements stated by the Directive a set of operational quality
standards and quality objectives have been proposed for the surface, ground and
coastal waters. An environmental quality standard is defined as the concentration
of a substance, which must not be exceeded by some statistical measure if a
specified quality objective of the aquatic environment is to be obtained. It is
therefore necessary to implement a classification system based on representative
monitoring parameters. Followed by a system of quality objectives based on those
standards to ensure that good status of surface and coastal water is achieved
throughout the Community and that deterioration in status is prevented.
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One of the most common environmental problems that are observed for the aquatic
environment is eutrophication. Eutrophication is caused by excessive enrichment
with nutrients from diffuse sources and point sources, which lead to increased
levels in phytoplankton, and as a result deterioration in light conditions. These
conditions will affect the depth distribution of macrophytes attached to the bottom
and the zoobenthos community.
Five parameters (dissolved oxygen, BOD, ammonium, total nitrogen and total-
phosphorus) are used to describe the main river pollution problems in some EU
states. The chemical classification divides the quality of rivers waters into five
classes.
The annual average has often been used for estimation of water quality, but the
mean value is not enough to describe the water quality. The most frequently used
value is the standard deviation, and a certain percentile is a more suitable value for
general characterisation of data. Percentiles can be taken as weighted mean values
and compared with mean value and standard deviation.
To provide some guidance for the quality in the studied catchments a system have
been established based an index derived system, where high quality is given the
value 100 and then the other quality classes is expressed in relation to this.
In the following table, the proposed criteria ranges for classifying river water in the
studied catchments have been provided.
The above classes are based on the systematic of the WFD and using a statistical approach. High
quality is given as 100 and then the remaining classes is shown in ranges of this value
In the following assessment of water quality it will be assumed that the quality in
the upper reaches will obtain a High Quality as very little loadings affect these
areas. The lower reaches will then be assessed relative to this for the different
parameters
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The Load Calculator, which is an add-on tool for MIKE Basin Water Quality is a
calculator for determining pollution loads for river basins. The tool calculates the
average mass fluxes of pollutants for individual sub-catchments (e.g.
kg/catchment/year). The tool can provide the pollution load input data for the
MIKE Basin Water Quality model.
Pollution loads may include both point and non-point sources. All loads are
initially calculated as constant mass fluxes for each sub-catchment, e.g. kg/year,
however when applying the Load Calculator together with e.g. the MIKE Basin
WQ model there are several ways to translate the constant mass fluxes into mass
flux time series depending on e.g. runoff time series or any other known temporal
variations.
All input data for the Load calculator include GIS layers describing the
geographical distribution of populations, agricultural sources (e.g. livestock and/or
fertilizer application), land uses and/or point sources representing wastewater from
industries or population centres.
Population data is available for 2002 – 2004 from the commune database. Data for
2004 has been applied in calculation of domestic loads.
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Figure 7.1: Population density (pers/km2) per commune for the 2 sub-catchments
The figure above shows the population density in the model area. The map is
produced on the basis of 2004 population density statistics for each commune. The
total population for each commune is one of the necessary themes for the LOAD
model. A uniform area distribution of the inhabitants in each commune is assumed
in these calculations. In Boribo catchment the highest densities in seen in Krakor
(Boeung Kantout commune) and Baribour districts (Khon Rang commune).
For the Dauntri catchment the highest densities are recorded in Moung Ruessei and
Bakan districts. The highest density of 326 ind/km2 was found in Moung commune
in Moung Russei district and the commune with the highest density in Bakan
district of 215 ind/km2 was Boeng Khnar commune.
Livestock
Livestock data has been available for 2005 at commune level for the following four
districts:
• Moung Reussey District, Battambang Province
• Bakan District, Pursat Province
• Phnum Kravanh District, Pursat Province
• Boribour, Kampong Chhnang Province
These four districts include the majority of the study areas in the lowlands.
Available data include number of buffalo, cows, pigs, horses, goats, chicken and
ducks.
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For these districts livestock numbers for each commune have been estimated. The
estimation is based on data on numbers of families owning cows and pigs - data
available for 2004 from the Commune database.
For these families it has been assumed that all families having pigs and/or cows
would also have poultry, and it is assumed that only families having cows also
have buffalos.
Based on a more detailed analysis of the data collected from the Bakan district and
compared with data from the commune data base in can be calculated that each
family would then have an average of:
2.0 cows per family
1.2 buffalos per family
1.9 pigs per family
15 poultry (chicken and ducks) per family
Below the livestock densities and total livestock numbers are shown within the
Dauntri and Boribo sub-catchments.
It can clearly be seen from the figures that the livestock density in the upland parts
of the catchments are very low. The density of cows and pigs in the upland areas
are between 0-5 and 0-2 no./km2, whereas in the middle part of the catchments the
density of cows and pigs are between 35-50 and 10-50 no./km2, respectively.
The details are presented in the following table, which shows the total numbers of
cows, buffalos, pigs and poultry for each commune.
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Fertilizer application
No data is available regarding the total amount of fertiliser applied on cultivated
land for the 2 study areas. Instead indirect measures such as the total area under
cultivation in each commune and the average annual fertiliser applied to each ha
has been used to estimate the presumed fertiliser application at commune level.
Cultivated areas in the 2 study areas consist almost entirely of rice cultivation.
Different types of cultivation include e.g. irrigated dry paddy, purely rain fed wet
paddy and partially irrigated wet paddy. Data on the distribution of the three types
of cultivation have been provided for four districts:
• Moung Reussey , Battambang Province
• Bakan, Pursat Province
• Phnum Kravanh, Pursat Province
• Boribo, Kampong Chhnang Province
The types of cultivation include wet paddy, dry paddy and other types of crop.
These data imply that wet paddy in average constitutes more than 90 % of the total
cultivated areas in both study areas.
For the remaining districts data on total area used for rice cultivation at commune
level is available from the commune database (2004).
• Kroas Krata
• Veal Veaeng
• Phnum Kravanh
• Sampov Meas
• Kandieng
• Tuek Phos
The data on the total area for cultivation for districts and communes are
summarised in the figure and table below.
It can be seen that in the Boribo catchment rice cultivation at present is relatively
limited and amounts in the majority of the communes to approx. 5-10 percent of
the commune area, with some higher percentage in the lower reaches.
In the Dauntri sub-basin, a greater percentage of the commune areas are used for
rice production with areas being from 10 to more than 50%.
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Figure 7.6: Land area in each commune used for rice cultivation.
To estimate the amount of fertilizer applied area specific application rates were
used. For wet paddy the typical application rate of fertilizer for each crop cycle is
approximately:
NPK – fertiliser: 150 kg/ha (15% N, 15% P)
UREA: 50 kg/ha (84% N, 0% P)
The available information for this project states that on average 1 crop is cultivated
per year.
Despite that the application rates may differ between the different types of rice
cultivation and other crops, the above numbers have been applied in the pollution
load estimation for all cultivated area.
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Table 7.4: Distribution of areas for rice cultivation and estimated fertiliser application, per commune
PROVINCE DISTRICT COMMUNE Area Cult. Cult. Fertiliser P Fertiliser N
km2 ha pct kg/year kg/year
Kg Chhnang Baribour Anhchanh 27 1595 60 40719 116727
Rung
Khon Rang 0 20 72 449 1288
Kampong 13 121 9 3036 8703
Preah Kokir
Melum 26 951 37 58538 167809
Phsar 21 1347 64 38618 110704
Pech 14 459 33 9310 26687
Changvar
Tuek Phos Chieb 84 481 6 10821 31020
Krang Skear 229 1357 6 30538 87543
Pursat Kandieng Kanhchor 10 359 36 8080 23161
Krakor Ansa 3 31 10 817 2343
Chambak
Boeng 24 422 18 12292 35237
Kantuot
Chheu Tom 172 1398 8 71093 203800
Kampong Pou 45 700 16 19900 57047
Ou Sandan 59 710 12 19169 54950
Sna Ansa 14 81 6 4160 11926
Svay Sa 189 1509 8 26095 74805
Tnaot Chum 145 1319 9 31789 91130
Phnum Prongil 406 542 1 12196 34961
Kravanh
Sampov Meas Roleab 0 1 8 19 56
Kg Speu Aural Trapeang 18 101 0 2273 6515
Chour
Battambang Moung Moung 39 6964 179 43811 125592
Ruessei
Data on rice cultivation are (i) from the commune database and (ii) collected from local agricultural authorities. Statistics refer to
the proportion of each commune that lies within the study area. Numbers for Moung and Svay Don Kaeo commune were not
correct since total cultivated area exceeded total commune area. Instead a cultivation percentage of 50 % pct have been
assumed for both communes
Pollution sources
For pollution estimation based on population and livestock data, the unit loads
applied for livestock were based on a similar study in China (Shanghai region),
while per capita loads applied were based on values typically used for rural
populations in third world countries.
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Runoff coefficients are applied to reflect the amount of pollutants which leaches
from the top soil after application of fertilizer or manure, or the amount pollutants
which are not subject to treatment of domestic sewerage. These coefficients are
empirical based reduction factors and may represent various types of retention
processes within the catchment.
For domestic sources the higher runoff coefficients is based on the assumption that
most people live close to minor or major streams and rivers where as agricultural
and background sources are assumed to be evenly distributed within each
commune.
4
At the time of application of fertilizer the value would be between 0.8 and 1 –
however due to nitrification of ammonia to nitrate, and relative higher mobility of
nitrate in soils, nitrate will constitute a more significant fraction of the total nitrogen
eventually entering the river
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For TP and E. coli the relative higher distance decay rate is based on the
assumption that phosphorous in general has a low mobility in soils, and E. coli is
highly degradable (or has a high death rate) in soil matrices.
Pollutant loads
The pollution load calculated and load reaching the water bodies in the different
subcatchments are discussed in more detail in the following section.
Table 7.7: Overall generated load of BOD, nitrogen and phosphorus (t/year)
Source BOD Total-nitrogen Total-phosphorus
t/year t/year t/year
Point sources NS NS NS
Non-sewered population 630 115 40
Livestock (generated) 14000 1910 615
Fertiliser (used) - 1150 400
Background load incl. precipitation 750 750 75
A short discussion of the different potential sources and their significance is given
below considering the categories: point sources, non-sewered population,
background load including precipitation, livestock and fertiliser use.
Point sources
The present load from point sources is very low or non-existent for the moment but
potential point sources in the future could be wastewater treatment plants,
industries, and hotels giving rise to significant load to certain stretches of the
rivers.
Non-sewered population
The population today is not connected to a wastewater system and the pollution
load from this source will also end up in the river system after different forms of
reduction and decay which is considered as described above. The generated load
from this source of BOD, nitrogen and phosphorus can be estimated to 630, 78 115
and 40 tons/year, respectively for the Boribo Sub-basin.
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Background load
As the nutrients are naturally occurring in the nature, the natural processes and
cycling of elements will contribute to the overall load of the catchments. These
estimations are based on findings from other areas.
Livestock
The livestock on the farms in the catchment areas contributes significantly to the
overall generated load of the river system. Based on the statistics described above
on livestock numbers in the households it can be estimated that approximately
14000, 1910 and 615 tons/year of BOD, nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively, are
produced in the Boribo Sub-basin.
Mineral fertiliser
Based on the received information regarding fertiliser use the amount applied make
up a significant proportion of the estimated generated load in each of the catchment
areas. Based on the area of agricultural land and the use of unit figures of nitrogen
and phosphorus application a total amount of 1150 and 400 tons/year are used in
the Boribo Sub-basin.
Using the Load Module of Mike Basin the load of BOD, nitrogen and phosphorus
for the different sub-catchments in the two catchments have been calculated. The
figures also indicate in which sub-catchments the pressure from human activities
are most significant.
The different water uses require a raw water quality that is adequate for the
particular use, whether domestic, fisheries, industrial, or for agriculture. And most
water uses generate a return flow, the water being released as sewage from
households, businesses and industries, or as tailwater from irrigation systems and
mines.
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Base-flow concentrations
Base-flow concentrations are most often significanty lower than concentration of
pollutants in surface or drainage runoff due to much longer residence time in the
groundwater and a significant retention of pollutants. The base-flow concentrations
applied were:
BOD: 0.1 mg/l
NO3: 0.5 mg/l
NH4 0.05 mg/l
TP: 0.01 mg/l
Ecoli: 0
Calibration
The following targets (= average concentration levels) have ben applied for
simulated concentrations of water quality components:
BOD 1 mg/l
NO3 0.5 – 1 mg/l
NH4 0.1 – 0.5 mg/l
TP 0.01-0.05
Ecoli (no target available)
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8 Socio-economics
8.1 Data
This section relates to ToR, Task 1: Collection of general data and information
Economic considerations should play a key part in any system of integrated water
resource management. They complement the hydrological studies and modelling.
In particular, the economic analysis of water uses is used to construct the general
economic profile of the river basin and its key water uses and significant pressures
in terms of:
• Economic analysis of water uses, e.g. collating information for significant
water uses on income, number of beneficiaries, agricultural and industrial
area or employment, etc;
• Stressing the importance of water for economic and regional development
and the evidence of this importance provided in existing economic strategies
and plans
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Communes Surveys
Boribo 10 7
Dauntri 25 16
Total 35 23
Not all communes were surveyed, largely because of problems with accessing some villages by road
in the rainy season.
Household selection
Through the observation, we can identify that the condition of their living are very homogeneous so
we selected 2-3 household in each village to interview. Each household was chosen by systematical-
random (e.g. one household at the beginning, one at the middle and one at the end of the village).
The households interviewed are believed to be representative of the sub-basin populations as living
conditions were noted to be very homogeneous across villages.
Survey method
Before the survey questionnaire, a test was conducted among 13 households in Boribo (Thnot Chum
Commune) and Moung Reiseiy ( Prek Chik commune). The survey structure was changed slightly
after the test.
80% of the interviews were conducted with individuals and 20% were conducted with groups in the
rice field (The interviews were in the harvesting season)
Each interview took around one hour, on average.
A few households were unavailable for interview because the heads of the household were busy at
the farm and some household off-farm.
Both women and men were interviewed. The choice of who to interview was limited to whoever was
available.
All respondents were willing to participate but some (around 20%) had some difficulty understanding
some of the survey questions. Most of them got stuck with the question of the payment on the
external labour for planting, harvesting.
The approach used here draws on guidance set out under the EU Water Framework
Directive, adapted to suit both the scale and context of the present project. In
particular, the analysis is undertaken from the perspective of the household, rather
than the national economy, reflecting both the subsistence nature of agriculture in
these river basins and the overall project objectives (i.e. poverty reduction).
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Results are reported in NWISP2 Working Paper 4: Economics of water use (Nov
06), and in volumes 2 and 3 of the present final report.
Context
Most livelihoods in the study area are water-dependent or water-related.
ADBs' Tonle Sap Basin strategy (ADB Apr 05) contains an analysis of the cause-
effect relationships that affect the poverty in the area. An extract is provided in the
text box below.
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Every year, farmers face shortages of water, drought, and floods, and these
have a major impact on agricultural production. At present, irrigation
infrastructure is still limited and is not able to provide enough water for
agricultural production.
Most farmers in the provinces around the Tonle Sap-Great Lake, along the
Mekong River, and in other areas of Cambodia do not achieve high crop
yields. This is partly because of inefficient management and a lack of
sustainability of irrigation systems. Farmers do not participate sufficiently in
management of irrigation schemes but rely on the Government, because they
believe that irrigation systems belong to the Government. '
8.4 Trends
This section identifies and assesses possible trends and pressures relating to water
availability and consumption based on economic and physical drivers of water
demand and proposed water-related measures across the basins. It was decided to
present the trends together, as they are very similar in each of the two sub-basins.
The table below summarises the major likely ‘drivers’ of water use in the sub-
basins and their individual implications for water demand and availability.
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Farmers in the LMB remain poor due to the low prices received for the major
agricultural commodities and the relatively high input costs. Rationalisation
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Soil quality
Economically viable sites for more intensive farming have been difficult to
find in the past because of the flat nature of Cambodia and the poor soils. For
the country as a whole, over 10 million ha of gentle sloping and flat land
(Class 4 and 5) are unutilised for agriculture, almost eight million ha of which
is classified as irrigable (Class 5). Most (59%) of the area is on poor acrisol
soils diminishing the economic viability of developing this land for irrigated
agriculture (Nesbitt, 2005). This situation is relevant to the areas under study,
particularly the Boribo Sub-basin where only a small area of land is classified
as marginally suitable for irrigated agriculture.
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The primary motive for migration is economic, with over 20% of all migrants
citing economic reasons and poor employment opportunities as push factors.
Some of the likely implications of irrigation development in the sub-basin areas are
summarised below.
Net benefits likely to be relatively low - Because the main crop in the region is
unprofitable at a net economic value level simply growing more rice will
not substantially improve the economic well being of the population.
Sustainability – how are these systems going to be different to those that were
available in the past and which have fallen into disrepair? The project will
need to consider how these projects can be self-sustaining so as to avoid
problems with the projects in the past and which have fallen into disrepair.
Cost recovery - Given low household income levels in the sub-basins, the potential
for cost-recovery from irrigation beneficiaries is low. This has significant
implications for the sustainability of the system.
Feasibility – the marginal gains from investment in irrigation run the risk of being
considerably lower than the investment costs. Rehabilitating irrigation
infrastructure in the Boribo Sub-basin is not a sufficient condition for
poverty alleviation through improved agricultural productivity. While
irrigation may help improve yields and the quality of production, the
investment costs may not be justified by the marginal gains in
productivity. Water is a limiting factor to production but it is not the only
one. Poor soils, high input costs and poor terms of trade (including access
to markets) severely constrain the benefits that may otherwise be achieved
by irrigation.
Costs and benefits - When considering the feasibility of irrigation systems, the full
range of costs and benefits need to be identified and quantified as far as possible.
Some of the costs and benefits that may be associated with such schemes are
shown in the table below.
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Decisions ought to be made within the context of overall development needs in the
basin. Economic efficiency requires that resources are directed to those activities
yielding the highest net benefits to society as a whole. Furthermore, sustainability
requires that project investment is demand-driven such that intended project
beneficiaries are willing and able to contribute to the ongoing operation and
maintenance of the system long after the period of project funding has come to an
end.
Impacts
An integral part of the cost-benefit analysis, is an understanding of the likely direct
and indirect impacts (both intended and unintended) of the irrigation development.
Poverty impact
Given that irrigated agriculture is the main economic activity benefiting from the
project, and that the current agricultural systems are broadly unprofitable, the
impact of the project on poverty will be limited unless agricultural systems are
substantially transformed.
Environmental impacts
The environmental impacts resulting from the development of irrigation systems
are as follows:
• effects of changes in water flow patterns and quantities resulting from the
construction of reservoirs and dams;
• effects of changes in water quality due to over excessive pesticide and
fertilizer use;
• changes in habitat resulting from the draining of wetlands or creation of
reservoirs; and
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These have potential economic impacts that need to be assessed as part of the
feasibility of the project.
Fisheries
Built structures such as dams, weirs, and flood control works bring social and
economic benefits. But they can also alter water quantity, quality, and timing;
modify flooding patterns; induce loss of habitat; affect fishery resources by
blocking fish migration and access to spawning areas; and ultimately impact
communities that depend on natural, especially aquatic, resources (ADB, 2005).
Consideration will have to be given to the first-order impacts, namely (i) changes
in resource access by different social groups; (ii) diet (including seasonal
variation); and (iii) income, and, if feasible, second-order impacts such as conflict
over fishery resources.
Overview of benefits
Three important benefits can be achieved by irrigation development:
• Increased household income, due to a higher crop intensity, a higher yield,
and the possible partial introduction of crops other than rice. This can in turn
support the national goal of poverty alleviation;
• reduced risks to cultivation and household income, related mainly to the
frequent, relatively minor drought events; and
• rural livelihood consolidation and development, a goal in its own right, with
the attractive strategic side benefit of reducing the rate of (unavoidable, and
possibly beneficial) urban migration to a level where the urban infrastructure,
services, accomodation and employment can realistically serve the demand
Overview of risks
Risks and impediments can be general (and difficult to control by the participants);
or site-specific (within the influence of the participants). Some risks are related to
the design and structural features of the irrigation scheme, while others are related
to the institutional context (including the water suers) and the management
modality. Some of the risks relate mainly to the construction phase and the initial
operation of a new irrigation scheme.
The following long list of risks has been compiled from JICA (2004), Nanni (Apr
2001), MOWRAM (Mar 2002) and Öjendal (2000):
• Actual lack of technical performance of the irrigation system (for many
reasons); the reasons can comprise faulty design (over-all layout and/or
detailed design), construction faults, and water shortage (foreseeable or
unforeseeable);
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A different type of risk is land value escalation that puts land ownership under
pressure, potentially undermining a supportive land ownership structure - as it
would be the case if irrigated land is bought for investment and left uncultivated.
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This risk can be met by various measures, such as ownership restrictions and
taxation of idle agricultural land.
Amplification of benefits
The benefits of irrigation schemes can be amplified, or are in some cases directly
dependent on supplementary measures. Examples are:
• Technical support to de-central management, operation and maintenance of
the irrigation systems (by Water User Groups);
• access to proven new crops and cultivation systems, including inputs (seeds,
fertilizers, etc.) and technology;
• access to markets and support to marketing, eventually at the national scale;
• support to development of agro-processing industries;
• smooth information flows (basic meteorology, flood warnings, and market
conditions);
• support to conflict resolution among land owners and water users; and
• support to response to risks and social shocks (like illness in the family,
which can cause loss of land).
Several of these are outside the responsibility (and control) of MOWRAM. Inter-
agency networking and collaboration is required to reach the full benefits of
irrigation development.
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WUG (water user group): A more or less formal group of water users (farmers sharing the same
irrigation system), formed for the sake of representation and participation in operation and
maintenance (and possibly some extent of ownership)
FWUC (farmers' water user community): A water user group that has been legally formalised by
MOWRAM's endorsement of its bylaws
Six WUGs have been established in the study area, and none of the function well.
As elsewhere in Cambodia, there is a scope for strengthening the farmers'
participation in the water management. This is for several good reasons, one being
that the irrigation systems are quite complex and not at all easy to operate, by any
standard.
5
in its April 2003 'Road Map'
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It is noted that typically, the persons who are responsible for scheme operation
have no information even of the normal monthly rainfall.
(The same is probably the case for those who conceived and designed some of the
schemes, including many of those that were constructed during the Pol Pot regime).
The same is the case with information about rainfall, drought and floods.
The lack of knowledge is unfortunate, because it would require a minor effort only
to provide it.
6
The remainder of this section quoted from Yem Dararath and T. K. Nielsen (Sept 06)
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Most irrigation development in the study area aims at supplementary wet season
irrigation. A particular concern in this connection is a higher reliability of the water
availability in the early part of the wet season.
This is illustrated in the following figure. In an average year there are no problems,
but already in every 5th year there are extended periods with little or no rain,
occurring at a critical stage of the cultivation cycle. Every 10th year, traditional wet
season cultivation is entirely dependent on irrigation supplies in several months
from mid May(early June and onwards.
1935 is the year with the lowest recorded rainfall (0 mm) in Pursat in June-July. In
Kg Chhnang, where data is available from the same year, the rainfall was 656 mm,
which is well above the average of 405 mm.
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The demand will be quite different for potential alternative crops and cultivation
systems. As sucessfully demonstrated elsewhere in Cambodia, the benefits (and
feasibility) of new irrigation developments can be enhanced in two ways: (i) by a
partial crop diversification (not least in the dry season, where water is sparse); and
(2) by improved efficiency for traditional paddy cultivation systems, achieved by
better seeds and increased use of fertiliser.
An increased water availability in the dry season would be a clear benefit, if it can
be achieved in a practical way. Beforehand, the following options are available:
• Increased storage capacity; and/or
• groundwater utilization.
There is some natural storage capacity in the study area, by groundwater exchange
and surface storage in ponds, lakes, at the streams themselves. The hydrological
analysis indicates a storage release of somewhere around 40 mm/month in
February and March both in Boribo and in Dauntri Sub-basin. In many places,
however, the natural storage is inadequate for maintaining any streamflow, not to
speak of making water available for cultivation.
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Optimization of retention irrigation (in relevant parts of the study area) can be
achieved by structural and/or non-structural measures. Elsewhere in the Tonle Sap
Basin, in Battambang and Kg Thom Provinces, there have been recent
developments of large-scale retention irrigation systems, at private initiative and
with private funding, which indicates that there is a scope for upgrading of the
retention irrigation7. It is possible that improved decision-support for operation can
be achieved at a small cost and can give benefits that justify the efforts. Activating
the full benefits may require an adaptation of the cultivation systems.
The Great Lake represents a large natural reservoir, from where water could be
drawn for irrigation relatively easiliy. This would require investments in pipes and
pumping stations, and operation costs for energy, that would only be justified if the
value of the agricultural production is much higher than today. This, in turn, would
require well educated farmers, good capacity for operation, and a reasonable soil
quality. Quite possibly, such schemes could be feasible some years from now at
some locations within the Tonle Sap Basin. Consider, in comparison, Thailand's
so-called water grid scheme, which includes procurement of land in neighbouring
countries for construction of reservoirs from where the water can be pumped to
Thailand. This scheme is claimed to be feasible (but has not yet been
implemented).
7
According to info from WUP-FIN. These private irrigation schems are of little value
to the farmers, who are expected to lend their land on long-term leases for around 50
USD per ha per year
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A recent review observes that 'the alluvial deposits of the Tonle Sap River and
Mekong River floodplain are believed to be very good shallow aquifers, with high
recharge rates (5-20 m3/h) and a groundwater table generally within 4-6m of the
surface. Groundwater quality is generally satisfactory. ... ' (ADB and CNMC, Mar
04, Tonle Sap Basin profile)
CNMC (Sep 03) quotes from a 1999 study that 'extensive and good shallow
aquifers, which span an estimated 4.8 million ha, underlie most of the arable areas
of Cambodia', while observing that 'more recent experience – unfortunately
anecdotal and not supported by formal surveys – indicates that the scope for
groundwater-based irrigation might be more limited, and that farmers tend to
prefer to develop surface water sources, particularly ponds'.
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General
Hydrological monitoring is undertaken by MOWRAM, Department of
Meteorology (rainfall, evaporation and more) and Department of Hydrology and
River Works (water level, flow, and inland water quality). Data are stored in
databases within these departments and at MRC.
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Resources are finite: Time; money; facilities; and knowledge. Today, the
monitoring is visibly affected by technical and financial constraints:
Rainfall
Rainfall gauges are in operation in the provincial towns of Kg Chhnang, Pursat,
and Battambang, and long-term records are available. These stations are
particularly important, because they already have a good data coverage, so that
they can serve as references for analyses of shorter records from other stations.
This is irrespective of the difficulties experienced under the prsent study with inter-
station correlations.
Large parts of the study area are elevated. Rainfall data would be useful from the
elevated areas, where the rainfall is higher than at the exisiting monitoring stations
(but where access is difficult).
Existing rainfall stations are shown below. Some of these are operational while
others are not.
Also, a map has been compiled of 'recommended' stations for future monitoring,
with a particular view to decision-support to irrigation operation.
The stations at the provincial towns are most important. Second comes a few
stations inside the sub-basins, preferably including at least one in the upper part of
each sub-basin.
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Flow (runoff)
Existing flow monitoring stations are shown below. Hereby, the word 'existing' is
misleading, as far as water level is read at some of them only (and fewer year by
year), while flow measurements are seldom carried out.
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As exemplified by the present study, flow records are highly valuable, and will
become even more valuable when irigation schemes have been upgraded and their
operation becomes an issue.
Location: E 410,336; N 1,359,333; elevation:Around 57 m above sea level; catchment area: 392 km2
Also, a raingauge exists at this location. Being surrounded by elevated land, the
data may be valid for the near vicinity only, but are still useful in connection with
the planned Bamnak candidate sub-project.
Regarding the exact location of future stations, and possible adjustments of present
ones, a flight reconnassiance is recommended - possibly a helicopter
reconnaissance. This is in order to assess the complex river networks upstream of
some of the stations
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Groundwater
Groundwater is not widely used in the study area, and the experience is somewhat
inconclusive. Still, groundwater is an important raw water source for rural
households, and may also be useful to small-scale rural industries.
In this connection, a rough distinction can be made between shallow and deep
wells, and (where information is available) between the different types and depths
of viable aquifers.
Water quality
A distinction can be made between
• surface water quality,
• drinking water quality (groundwater, bottled water, and other vended water),
and
• groundwater quality.
9.5 Morphology
This section relates to ToR, Task 33: Response to data shortcomings
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The following morphological effects occur in the study area: Bank erosion; bank
accretion; and flow obstruction caused by sedimentation, landslides, fallen trees, or
even broken gates and weirs. The example shown above is typical.
Immediate intervention
Urgent intervention
Less urgent intervention
A fairly reliable classification can be made on the basis of information from the
district and commune authorities. Photo documentation can provide an inexpensive
support to the monitoring.
Regarding surface water, the situation in the study area today is that habitat
degradation is a more imminent threat than pollution, and much more difficult to
control. A potential threat is contamination from agricultural runoff containing
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fertilizer residues and pesticides, which can eventually contaminate edible fish and
hereby the public health.
Another aspect to keep in mind is pollution incidents, such as spills, that can cause
short-term or long-term damage to aquatic ecosystems.
For wetlands and floodplain habitats, the water level is the determining factor,
rather than the flow rate (although the former is basically determined by the latter).
Notably, for the Great Lake of Tonle Sap, the fish yield is directly related to the
annual 'flood pulse' (the height and duration of the annual peak flow).
Also in other cases, the environmental consequences are related to the annual flood
flows as much as the dry season minimum flows. This is because many ecosystems
are well adapted to the naturally occurring seasonal flow fluctuations. There can be
a healthy fish stock even in streams with an annual minimum flow of nil.
One important exception in the Lower Mekong Basin is the maintenance of the
salinity regime in the Mekong Delta, which is a determined by a delicate, dynamic
balance that depends on the flow from upstream. (If, hypothetically, the flow in the
Mekong was discontinued, the sea would penetrate to upstream of Phnom Penh and
into Tonle Sap). The production systems in the Delta are highly sensitive to the
salinity, which will increase in case of any reduction of the present annual
minimum flow in the Mekong mainstream. It is roughly estimated that maintaining
the present salinity regime requires a flow that equals around 2 l/s/km2 on the
average for the entire Mekong Basin. Furthermore, there are indications that
maintenance of this flow would largely prevent over-all degradation that is related
to the dry season water availability. In general, however, the dependencies and
consequences are highly site-specific, and there will be localities where a lower
flow is acceptable, or where a higher flow is required.
For the purpose of the present study, information has been sought about evidence
of observed extraordinary flow-related impacts in the project area. The information
is inconclusive, however, since there seem to have been no such incidents. The
riverine ecosystems are adapted to low or no flow occuring annually in the dry
season.
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Important knowledge about environmental flows has been (or is presently being)
produced by IUCN, and under the Integrated Basin Flow Management Project of
Mekong River Commission.
The area covered by the present study is small as compared with the 795,000 km2
catchment area of the entire Mekong Basin, and the rainfall, storage capacity and
water demand are known to differ widely within the basin. Therefore, while strictly
observing the regional perspective, it makes some sense to give priority to local
rather than regional implications of maintaining the required minimum flow. The
two considerations may be fully compatible, however.
There are both scientific, technical and political aspects to consider in connection
with maintenance of minimum flows. One example is the many small portable
diesel engine pumps that are used in many countries, and which are increasingly
popular in Cambodia, for direct withdrawal of water from the river for cultivation
purposes. Elsewhere in the World, the cumulative effects of many small
withdrawals, each of which is entirely insignificant, have caused severe
downstream consequences and have resulted in an over-all water resources
allocation that is far from optimal.
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decision criteria), such as assuring raw water for domestic supplies. In order
to prevent conflicts, however, the measure can suitably be supported by other
management measures.
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As the character and the significance of impacts will vary from one place to
another within the project area, it will in some cases be required to carry out a more
detailed EIA in support of the initial evaluation.
Findings under the present study indicate that in the past and today, a typical (and
possibly critical) cause-effect relationship in relation to fish habitats in the study
area is as illustrated below.
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Figure 9.12: Vatlieb Gate, built in 1977, blocking sediments and fish migration
Figure 9.13: Khohkhsach Gate, built in 1977, blocking sediments and fish migration
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Figure 9.14: Kruchsaerch Gate, built in 1994, with sediment and fish passage
Figure 9.15: Prek Am Gate, built in 2002, with sediment and fish passage
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9.9 Capacity-building
This section relates to ToR, Task 38: Knowledge-sharing with designated counterpart staff
In the context of the present study, the relevant issue is transfer of the acquired
insight, as acquired during the work, together with certain related suggestions and
thoughts to share:
• Socio-economic, hydraulic, and environmental implications of water uses in
general, and of irrigation development in particular; and
• monitoring routines (water utilization, groundwater, water quality,
morphology), including cost-effectiveness and participatory techniques
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MOWRAM (Aug 2003): Farmer Water User Communities – report on workshop held on 28-29 August
2003, Phnom Penh, under the Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project (FERP), Rehabilitation of
Flood Control and Irrigation Systems Component (IDA credit 3472-KH). Prepared by Mott
MacDonald Ltd. in association with BCEOM and SAWAC for Ministry of Water Resources and
Meteorology, Cambodia
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NCDP (December 2004): Completion report from training workshop: Water & livelihoods, Phnom
Pros Hotel, Kampong Cham, 20-22 December 2004
General
• Identification of weaknesses and strengths within the communities
• Encouragement to grow any value crops other than rice in case of water shortage
• Site visits to other places in order to gain valuable insight into their professional practices
FWUC-government relations
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities
• Facilitate sharing of information and experience among farmers in the region
• Train/educate farmers in the community on benefit of participating in the community
• Make farmers participate in the community
• Strengthen water by-laws and disseminate them to the farmers
• Strengthen the implementation of by-law
• Systematic monitoring and evaluation
• Train community staff
• Base decisions on what has been suggested by the members of the community
• Realistic water fees
• Improved inter-agency coordination
• Conflicts, if any, should be immediately solved
Scheme management
• Inter-farmer collaboration (within the scheme) on water management and water sharing
• Strengthened management capacity of community staff
• Transparent and proper financial management in the community
• Reports on financial management should be distributed to farmers and other organizations
involved
• Water should be sufficiently and equitably distributed
Technology and skills
• Proper design and construction of irrigation systems
• Dissemination of modern technology to the farmers
• Additional knowledge about crop cultivation
• Seed selection suited for the specific soil types in the cultivated areas
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References
(References marked 'EL' are available in the Electronic Library)
ADB (2005) Technical Assistance to the Kingdom of Cambodia for the Study of the Influence of Built Structures on the
Fisheries of the Tonle Sap (Financed by the Government of Finland). ADB: Manila
ADB (2006) ADTA 4645-CAM: Restructuring of the Railway in Cambodia.
[http://www.adb.org/Documents/PIDs/37534012.asp]
ADB (Apr 05): The Tonle Sap Basin strategy (EL)
ADB (Aug 03): Fighting poverty in Cambodia. The Tonle Sap Basin Strategy. Prepared by O. Serrat, D. Moffatt, and T.
Gallego-Lizon (EL)
ADB (Jan 05): Country strategy and program 2005-09, Kingdom of Cambodia (EL)
Asian Development Bank (2006) Asian Development Outlook 2006. (Available on the Internet)
BCEOM (May 06): Hydrologist/river basin specialist, 2nd mission report, April-May 2006. Consulting services for
Northwest Irrigation Sector Project, prepared for Ministry of Water resources by BCEOM in association with ACIL
and SAWAC
Beecham, R. and Cross, H. (2005) Modelled Impacts of Scoping Development Scenarios in the Lower Mekong Basin. Report
prepared for the MRC-BDP
Bell, R.W. and Seng, V. (2004) Rainfed lowland rice-growing soils of Cambodia, Laos and Northeast Thailand. ACIAR
Proceedings No. 116e, pp161-173
Carbonnel, J.P and J. Guiscafre: Grand Lac du Cambodge. Sedimentologie et Hydrologie, 1962-63. Ministiere des Affaires
Etrangeres, Gouvernement Royal du Cambodge
Chaudhry, Peter and Muanpong Juntopas (Jan 05): Water, poverty and livelihoods in the Lower Mekong Basin. Prepared for
the Basin Development Plan of Mekong River Commission (EL)
CNMC (Oct 04): Basin Development Plan Programme, sub-area analysis. The Tonle Sap Sub-area (9C) (EL)
CTI (May 04): Consolidation of hydro-meteorological data and multi-functional hydrological roles of Tonle Sap Lake and its
vicinities, Phase III. Final report. CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. And DHI – Water & Environment. Client:
Mekong River Commission (EL)
CTI and DHI (Aug 03): Consolidation of hydro-meteorological data and multi-functional hydrological roles of Tonle Sap
Lake and its vicinities, Phase II. Final reports. CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd. and DHI – Water &
Environment. Client: Mekong River Commission (EL)
FAO (2002) Investment in land and water in Cambodia. Proceedings of the Regional Consultation. RAP 2002/09. Bangkok
French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development (2003): Procedure for the preparation of the inventory:
characterization of the river basin district and the register of protected areas. Water Department
Halcrow (Jun 04): Final report: Main report; Annex A: Hydrology; Annex B: Agronomy; Annex C: Lowland rice soils of
Cambodia; Annex D: Socio-economics; and Annex F: Environmental assessment. Irrigation Rehabilitation Study in
Cambodia, prepared for the Mekong Secretariat by Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd. in association with
Mandala Agricultural Development Corporation. Contract CAM.IRS 238.93, UNDP Grant 3.3.37/92/UNP, B/L 21
Halcrow (Apr 04): Inventory & analysis of existing systems. Volume 1: Main report; Volume 2: Banteay Meanchey,
Battambang, Kampot, Kandal; and Volume 6: Pursat, Siem Reap, Svay Rieng, Takeo. Irrigation Rehabilitation Study
in Cambodia, prepared for the Mekong Secretariat by Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd. in association with
Mandala Agricultural Development Corporation. Contract CAM.IRS 238.93, UNDP Grant 3.3.37/92/UNP, B/L 21
Halcrow (Dec 03): Ranking criteria report. Irrigation Rehabilitation Study in Cambodia, prepared for the Mekong Secretariat
by Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd. in association with Mandala Agricultural Development Corporation.
Contract CAM.IRS 238.93, UNDP Grant 3.3.37/92/UNP, B/L 21
Hoekstra, A. Y. and P. Q. Hung (Sept 02): Virtual water trade - a quantification of virtual water flows between nations in
relation to international crop trade. Value of Water Research Report Series no. 11, IHE, Delft, The Netherlands (EL)
JICA (March 2004): Rural livelihood in Komping Puoy area (Cambodia), a baseline survey. Jointly prepared by Provincial
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (PDAFF) and Japan International Collaboration Agency (JICA)
under the Battambang Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Project
JICA and MOWRAM (Dec 01): The Study on the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Agricultural Production System in
the Slakou River Basin, progress report 3. Prepared by Nippon Koei Co. Ltd, Docon Co., Ltd. and Pasco International
Inc. for Japan International Cooperation Agency and MOWRAM
JICA and MRD (May 02): The study on groundwater development in Central Cambodia. Final report prepared for Japan
International Cooperation Agency and Ministry of Rural Development, Cambodia, by Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd.
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Keo Pheakdey (Aug 05): Design of tube wells for small scale groundwater irrigation in Kampong Cham Province. National
Capacity Development Project (EL)
Le van Sanh (June 02): Mission Report, Analysis of Hydrological Data at Stations around the Great Lake and on Mekong,
Bassac Rivers in 1960s and from 1998 to 2001. Phnom Penh
MAFF (May 05): Agricultural statistics 2004-05. Statistics Office, Department of Planning, Statistics and International
Cooperation
McKenney, B. and Tola, P. (2002) Natural resources and rural livelihoods in Cambodia: A baseline assessment. Working
Paper 23. Cambodia Development Resource Institute: Phnom Penh.
MoE (Apr 05): State of the Environment Report 2004. Ministry of Environment, Royal Government of Cambodia
MOWRAM (Aug 06a): Rainfall monitoring stations, Tonle Sap Basin. Dept. of Meteorology, with assistance from Tonle Sap
Lowland Stabilisation Project
MOWRAM (Aug 06b): River flow monitoring stations, Tonle Sap Basin. Dept. of Hydrology and River Works, Office of
Research and Flood Forecasting, with assistance from Tonle Sap Lowland Stabilisation Project
MOWRAM (Aug 04a): Strategic plan on water resources management and development (EL)
MOWRAM (Aug 04b): Rectangular strategy on water resources and meteorology (EL)
MOWRAM (Jan 04): National water resources policy for the Kingdom of Cambodia, as approved by the Council of
Ministers on 16 January 2004 (EL)
MOWRAM (2003) Irrigated Agriculture – National Sector Review. Report prepared by MOWRAM in association with
Cambodia National Mekong Committee: Phnom Penh.
MOWRAM (March 2002): Smallholder water and land management in Cambodia. Prepared for Ministry of Water Resources
and Meteorology with the assistance of M. P. Mosley as Project Report 5 under the North West Irrigation Sector
Project, Part A: Capacity-building in Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, Cambodia, funded by ADB (TA
3758-CAM)
MRC (2003) Social Atlas of the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission Secretariat: Phnom Penh.
MRC (2003) State of the Basin Report 2003. Mekong River Commission: Phnom Penh.
MRC-BDP (Nov 05): National Sector Reviews. BDP Library Volume 13, October 2004, revised November 2005. Mekong
River Commission
MRC-DMPF (Jun 04): Final report on DMPF data collection in Cambodia. Program to Demonstrate the Multi-functionality
of the Paddy Fields over the Mekong Basin. Edited by Mao hak, Chhea Bunrith, Sao Vannsereyvuth and Oum Kosal
MRC-WUP (Jun 05): Integrated water quality management report no. 1 (draft). Mekong River Commission, Water
Utilization Programme
MRC-WUP-JICA (Mar 04a): The study on hydro-meteorological monitoring for water quantity rules in Mekong River Basin.
Final report, Volume I (Main report), prepared by CTI and Nippon Koei (EL)
MRC-WUP-JICA (Mar 04b): The study on hydro-meteorological monitoring for water quantity rules in Mekong River Basin.
Final report, Volume 2a (supporting documents 1: Improvement of hydrological stations; 2: Gap filling of rainfall
data; 3: Hydrological monitoring; 4: Development of hydro-hydraulic model for the Cambodian floodplains; 5:
Application of hydro-hydraulic model; and 6: Water use in the Lower Mekong Basin), prepared by CTI and Nippon
Koei (EL)
MRC-WUP-JICA (Mar 04c): The study on hydro-meteorological monitoring for water quantity rules in Mekong River Basin.
Final report, Volume 2b (supporting documents 7: Maintenance of flows on the Mekong mainstream; 8: institutional
strengthening; and 9: Water use management), prepared by CTI and Nippon Koei (EL)
MRC-WUP-JICA (Mar 04d): The study on hydro-meteorological monitoring for water quantity rules in Mekong River Basin.
Final report, Volume III (Summary), prepared by CTI and Nippon Koei (EL)
Nanni, Marcella (April 2001): End of assignment report, submitted to MOWRAM (Cambodia) by SMEC International Pty.
Ltd. under the Agricultural Hydraulics Component of the Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project
NCDP (Feb 05): Strengthening of Farmer Water User Communities (FWUCs). Draft note prepared under the National
Capacity Development Project (EL)
Nesbitt, H. (2003) Lower Mekong Basin: Future Trends in Agricultural Production. Draft BDP Discussion Paper. Mekong
River Commission: Phnom Penh
Nhim Sophea (Mar 06): Water quality data assessment 2005, MRC water quality monitoring network. Water Quality Office,
Department of Hydrology and River Works, MOWRAM
OADA (Mar 03): Study report on Kamping Puoy Irrigation Scheme Rehabilitation project in Battambang Province, the
Kingdom of Cambodia. Overseas Agricultural Development Association
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OADA (Mar 05): Study report on irrigation development projects of Mongkol Borey River in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Overseas Agricultural Development Association
PRD (July 2006): Inception Workshop, Pursat. River basin and water use studies, Package 2: Dauntri and Boribo Sub-basins.
Report prepared under the North West Irrigation Sector Project for Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology by
PRD Water & Environment in association with DHI Water & Environment (EL)
PRD (Oct 2006): Technical Workshop no. 2, Battambang. River basin and water use studies, Package 2: Dauntri and Boribo
Sub-basins. Report prepared under the North West Irrigation Sector Project for Ministry of Water Resources and
Meteorology by PRD Water & Environment in association with DHI Water & Environment (EL)
PRD (Sep 2006): Technical Workshop no. 1, Pursat. River basin and water use studies, Package 2: Dauntri and Boribo Sub-
basins. Report prepared under the North West Irrigation Sector Project for Ministry of Water Resources and
Meteorology by PRD Water & Environment in association with DHI Water & Environment (EL)
van Zalinge, N. P., T. Nao and N. Sam (2001): Status of the Cambodian inland capture fisheries sector with special reference
to the Tonle Sap Great Lake. pp.10-17 in van Zalinge, N.P., R. Ounsted and S. Lieng (eds). Cambodia Fisheries
Technical Paper Series 3. Mekong River Commission and Department of Fisheries, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
WMO (1980): Operational Hydrology, Report No. 13: Manual on Stream Gauging, Volume II, Computation of Discharge.
World Meteorological Organization
WUP-FIN (Aug 02b): Data report. MRC Water Utilization Program, WUP-FIN component - Modelling of the flow regime
and water quality of the Tonle Sap Karri Eloheimo, Seppo Hellsten, Teemu Jantunen, Janos Jozsa, Mikko Kiirikki,
Hannu Lauri, Jorma Koponen, Juha Sarkkula, Olli Varis, and Markku Virtanen (EL)
Yem Dararath a and T. K. Nielsen (Sep 06): Decision-support for operation of irrigation systems in Tonle Sap, Cambodia.
2nd International Symposium on Sustainable Development in the Mekong River Basin, Phnom Penh (EL)
Öjendal, Joakim (March 2000): Sharing the good - modes of managing water resources in the Lower Mekong Basin.
Department of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University, Sweden
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The MIKE Basin model is integrated with the ArcGIS software system (the
successor to ArcView), supplied by ESRI.
MIKE Basin
MIKE Basin is a GIS-linked river network modelling system, used for decision support within water
resource management at catchment level. MIKE Basin describes the water balance of the major water
bodies, including the river network itself, storage reservoirs, and groundwater aquifers. Rainfall run-off
can either be calculated (by different models) or can be specified based on results from field data and/or
separate analyses. A distinction is made between surface runoff and groundwater flow. The modelling
system allows for a detailed description of water allocations for various purposes, such as water
supplies, irrigation, and hydropower.
MIKE Basin includes a water quality module that describes the transport, transformation and retention of
the most important pollutants in rivers, groundwater aquifers and reservoirs. Pollution sources are
specified as point sources (for example sewage discharges) and non-point sources (for example
fertilizers from agriculture).
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Rainfall
Evaporation
Recharge
Overland flow
Interflow
Baseflow
The NAM model is a well-proven engineering tool that has been applied to a
number of catchments around the world, representing many different hydrological
regimes and climatic conditions.
One relevant previous application was a study for JICA (2004), in which runoff
records were generated for all sub-catchments surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake. In
that study, the rainfall-runoff model was set up for for 12 subcatchments
surrounding the Great Lake. Each catchment was considered as one unit with a
single or a distributed outlet to the Great Lake.
It shall be mentioned that the general lack of long data records of good quality
poses a general problem in the hydrological analysis and modelling of the Tonle
Sap tributaries. Essentially the accuracy of the model outputs is not better than the
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quality of the underlying data. However, the model is useful in the sense that it
interpolates in time and space, and additional information can therefore be
achieved.
The model is able to provide runoff from ungauged catchments by using calibration
parameters from a neighboring gauged catchment, provided that the two areas
reemble each other with respect to terrain, geology, soil properties, vegetation
cover and type. Obviously, the results will be subject to some uncertainty.
NAM structure
A conceptual model like NAM is based on physical structures and equations used
together with semi-empirical ones. Being a lumped model, NAM treats each
catchment as a single unit. The parameters and variables represent, therefore,
average values for the entire catchment. As a result some of the model parameters
can be evaluated from physical catchment data, but the final parameter estimation
must be performed by calibration against time series of hydrological observations.
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The structure reflects the land phase of the hydrological cycle. NAM simulates the
rainfall-runoff process by continuously accounting for the water content in four
different and mutually interrelated storages that represent different physical
elements of the catchment. These storages are:
• Snow storage
• Surface storage
• Lower or root zone storage
• Groundwater storage
Based on the meteorological input data NAM produces catchment runoff as well as
information about other elements of the land phase of the hydrological cycle, such
as the temporal variation of the evapotranspiration, soil moisture content,
groundwater recharge, and groundwater levels. The resulting catchment runoff is
split conceptually into overland flow, inter-flow and baseflow components.
NAM components
Surface storage
Moisture intercepted on the vegetation as well as water trapped in depressions and
in the uppermost, cultivated part of the ground is represented as surface storage.
Umax denotes the upper limit of the amount of water in the surface storage.
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration demands are first met at the potential rate from the surface
storage. If the moisture content U in the surface storage is less than these
requirements (U < Ep), the remaining fraction is assumed to be withdrawn by root
activity from the lower zone storage at an actual rate Ea. Ea is proportional to the
potential evapotranspiration and varies linearly with the relative soil moisture
content, L/Lmax, of the lower zone storage
Ea = (Ep – U) x L/Lmax
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Overland flow
When the surface storage spills, i.e. when U > Umax, the excess water PN gives
rise to overland flow as well as to infiltration. QOF denotes the part of PN that
contributes to overland flow. It is assumed to be proportional to PN and to vary
linearly with the relative soil moisture content, /Lmax, of the lower zone storage
⎧ L / L max − TOF
⎪CQOF ⋅ PN for L / L max > TOF
QOF = ⎨ 1 − TOF
⎪⎩0 forL / L max ≤ TOF
where
CQOF is the overland flow runoff coefficient (0<= CQOF <=1)
TOF is the threshold value for overland flow (0<=TOF<=1)
The proportion of the excess water PN that does not run off as overland flow
infiltrates into the lower zone storage. A portion, ΔL, of the water available for
infiltration, (PN -QOF), is assumed to increase the moisture content L in the lower
zone storage. The remaining amount of infiltrating moisture, G, is assumed to
percolate deeper and recharge the groundwater storage.
Interflow
The interflow contribution, QIF, is assumed to be proportional to U and to vary
linearly with the relative moisture content of the lower zone storage.
⎧ L / L max − TIF
⎪CKIF ⋅ PN for L / L max > TIF
QIF = ⎨ 1 − TIF
⎪⎩0 forL / L max ≤ TIF
where
CKIF is the time constant for interflow, and
TIF is the root zone threshold value for interflow (0 <= TIF <= 1).
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The constant ß = 0.4 corresponds to using the Manning formula for modelling the
overland flow. The equation above ensures in practice that the routing of real
surface flow is kinematic, while subsurface flow being interpreted by NAM as
overland flow (in catchments with no real surface flow component) is routed as a
linear reservoir.
Groundwater recharge
The amount of infiltrating water G recharging the groundwater storage depends on
the soil moisture content in the root zone
⎧ L / L max − TG
⎪( PN − QOF ) ⋅ for L / L max > TG
G=⎨ 1 − TG
⎪⎩0 forL / L max ≤ TG
where
TG is the root zone threshold value for groundwater recharge (0 <= TG <= 1)
ΔL = PN – QOF – G
Baseflow
The baseflow BF from the groundwater storage is calculated as the outflow from a
linear reservoir with time constant CKBF.
One important characteristic of the model is that the surface storage must be at its
maximum capacity, i.e. U = Umax before any excess water, PN, occurs. In dry
periods, the amount of net rainfall that must occur before any overland flow occurs
can be used to estimate Umax.
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It should be noted that Lmax represents the average value for an entire catchment,
i.e. an average value for the various soil types and root depths of the individual
vegetation types. Hence, Lmax cannot in practice be estimated from field data, but
an expected interval can be defined.
Since the actual evapotranspiration is highly dependent on the water content of the
surface and root zone storages, Umax and Lmax are the primary parameters to be
changed in order to adjust the water balance in the simulations. In the preliminary
stages of the model calibration, it is recommended to fix the relation between
Umax and Lmax, leaving only one storage parameter to be estimated. As a rule,
Umax = 0.1Lmax can be used unless special catchment characteristics or
hydrograph behaviour indicate otherwise.
Small values of CQOF are expected for a flat catchment having coarse, sandy soils
and a large unsaturated zone, whereas large CQOF-values are expected for
catchments having low, permeable soils such as clay or bare rocks. CQOF-values
in the range 0.01-0.90 have been experienced.
It should be noted that during periods where the groundwater table is at the ground
surface the model excludes the infiltration component, and hence CQOF becomes
redundant.
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The time constant can be inferred from calibration on peak events. If the simulated
peak discharges are too low or arriving too late, decreasing CK12 may correct this,
and vice versa.
Physically, the three threshold values should reflect the degree of spatial variability
in the catchment characteristics, so that a small homogeneous catchment is
expected to have larger threshold values than a large heterogeneous catchment.
For catchments with alternating dry and wet periods, the threshold values
determine the onset of the flow components in the periods where the root zone is
being filled up. This can be used in model calibration. It should be noted that the
threshold values have no importance in wet periods. The significance of the
threshold value varies from catchment to catchment and is usually larger in semi-
arid regions.
In areas with alternating dry and wet seasons, TOF can be estimated on the basis of
situations where even very heavy rainfall does not give rise to the quick response
of the overland flow component. The parameter has an impact only during the first,
few weeks of the wet season. Values of TOF in the range 0-0.7 have been
experienced.
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If the recession analysis indicates that the shape of the hydrograph changes to a
slower recession after a certain time, an additional (lower) groundwater storage can
be added to improve the description of the baseflow.
NAM calibration
In the NAM model the parameters and variables represent average values for the
entire catchment.
While in some cases a range of likely parameter values can be estimated, it is not
possible, in general, to determine the values of the NAM parameters on the basis of
the physiographic, climatic and soil physical characteristics of the catchment, since
most of the parameters are of an empirical and conceptual nature. Thus, the final
parameter estimation must be performed by calibration against time series of
hydrological observations.
Calibration criteria
The following objectives are usually considered in the model calibration
1 A good agreement between the average simulated and observed catchment
runoff (i.e. a good water balance)
2 A good overall agreement of the shape of the hydrograph
3 A good agreement of the peak flows with respect to timing, rate and volume
4 A good agreement for low flows
In this respect it is important to note that, in general, trade-offs exist between the
different objectives. For instance, one may find a set of parameters that provide a
very good simulation of peak flows but a poor simulation of low flows, and vice
versa.
In the calibration process, the different calibration objectives 1-4 should be taken
into account. If the objectives are of equal importance, one should seek to balance
all the objectives, whereas in the case of priority to a certain objective this
objective should be favoured.
For a general evaluation of the calibrated model, the simulated runoff is compared
with discharge measurements. For individual calibration of the groundwater
parameters, the simulated average groundwater level can be compared with
groundwater level measurements in the catchments.
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In model calibration only error source (4) should be minimised. In this respect it is
important to distinguish between the different error sources since calibration of
model parameters may compensate for errors in data and model structure. For
catchments with a low quantity or quality of data, less accurate calibration results
may have to be accepted.
Manual calibration
The process of model calibration is normally done either manually or by using
computer-based automatic procedures. In this section a manual calibration strategy
for the NAM model is outlined.
A calibration usually commences by adjusting the water balance in the system. The
total evapotranspiration over a certain period should correspond to the accumulated
net precipitation minus runoff. The evapotranspiration will increase when
increasing the maximum water contents in the surface storage Umax and the root
zone storage Lmax, and vice versa.
The peak runoff events are caused by large quantities of overland flow. The peak
volume can be adjusted by changing the overland flow runoff coefficient (CQOF),
whereas the shape of the peak depends on the time constant used in the runoff
routing (CK12).
The amount of base flow is affected by the other runoff components; a decrease in
overland flow or interflow will result in a higher baseflow, and vice versa. The
shape of the baseflow recession is a function of the base-flow time constant
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Initially, the root zone threshold values TOF, TIF and TG can be set to zero. After
a first round of calibration of the parameters Umax, Lmax, CQOF, CK12 and
CKBF, the threshold parameters can be adjusted for further refinement of the
simulation results.
For individual calibration of the groundwater parameters GWLBF0 and SY, the
simulated groundwater level is compared to observed groundwater levels. Inclusion
of the shallow groundwater reservoir description is important in lowland areas, as
found e.g. in swamps or river delta areas, where the groundwater table may reach
the ground surface during the wet season.
The calibration of the NAM model for the Boribo and Dauntri catchments has
been made through an trial and error process carried out manually. The general
guidelines as described above is applied with variation of one parameter at a time.
The calibration parameters for the two catchments are shown in the table below.
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• abstractions and discharges (or return flows) from urban and industrial water
uses, irrigation schemes, and reservoirs.
The model connects all water uses and sources in the catchment in a nodal point
system, as illustrated in the following figure.
River branches represent rivers and nodes represent calculation points within the river network. The
river catchment is divided into a number of sub-catchments each assigned to a given river section.
Water users such as water supply and irrigation can be specified at any of the calculation points in the
model
Results can be presented as maps and tables of flow rates and water availability,
directly available for GIS analysis.
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All loads are initially calculated as constant mass fluxes for each sub-catchment,
e.g. kg/year, however when applying the Load Calculator together with e.g. the
MIKE Basin WQ model there are several ways to translate the constant mass
fluxes into mass flux time series depending on e.g. runoff time series or any other
known temporal variations.
All input data for the Load calculator include GIS layers describing the
geographical distribution of populations, agricultural sources (e.g. livestock and/or
fertilizer application), land uses and/or point sources representing wastewater from
industries or population centres.
MIKE Basin WQ can simulate reactive steady-state transport of the most important
substances affecting river water quality such as:
- organic matter (~BOD)
- ammonia-nitrogen (NH4)
- nitrate-nitrogen (NO3)
- total phosphorous (TP)
- coliform bacteria (E-Coli)
- other user defined substances
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The steady-state approach is consistent with MIKE Basin's solution to the water
allocation problem. Thus, advection can not be modeled properly with MIKE
Basin. In other words, pulses of solute entering the stream do not travel
downstream as simulation time advances. Therefore the time step applied for water
quality simulations in MIKE Basin must exceed the total residence of the system
studied, typically >= 1 week depending on the size of the river basin. Thus this way
the simulated concentrations will represent an average concentration for a given
time interval, or time step, rather than an instantaneous concentration.
In reaches where you specify routing (linear, Muskingum, wave translation), the
water quality simulation can (if you so choose) properly reflect the residence time
and the effects of mixing between reach storage and inflows. The same holds
(always) for reservoirs and groundwater, the two other storages of water in MIKE
Basin.
Calibration
No water quality data has been available from the studied sub-basins which could
be used for model calibration.
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A limited number of measurements have been available for Tonle Sap which
indicates average levels of 0.01 – 0.07 mg/l for total-phosphorus, with the highest
levels in April-May. Similarly, the level of NH4 range from 0.02 – 0.12 mg/l
(Water Quality Data Assessment 2005, Department of Hydrology and River
Works, March 2006).
Based on the above approach the following targets (= average concentration levels)
for simulated concentrations of water quality components have been used for
calibration purposes:
BOD 1 mg/l
NO3 0.5 – 1 mg/l
NH4 0.1 – 0.5 mg/l
TP 0.01-0.05
Ecoli (no target available)
The 'pocket calculator' is easy to use by anyone with just introductory level skills
in Excel software.
The water balance workbooks describe the sub-basins as divided into sub-
catchments in the same way as in the MIKE Basin set-up:
• Boribo Sub-basin has been divided into 17 sub-catchments, and the Bamnak
diversion is explicitly included;
• Dauntri Sub-basin has been divided into 21 sub-catchments, and the Damnak
Ampil Canal is explicitly included.
There is no rainfall-runoff module, and basically only one storage volume in each
sub-basin (although it can be sub-divided into 2 if need be and data are available).
Calibration is made (for a given net rainfall) by adjusting the monthly storage
exchange values in a way that gives a desired (monthly) outflow from any sub-
catchment where flow data are available.
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Project Working Team of River Basin Study-Package 2
Dr. Tue Kell Nielsen Team Leader
Mr. Toch Sophon Co Team Leader
Mr. Henrik Garsdal Hydrology Expert
Mr. Jens Erik Lyngby Water Quality Expert
Mr. Teang Sokhom GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist
Mr. Prum Peurn Water Use and Water Balance Specialist
Ms. Petrina Rowcroft Environmental Economic Expert
Ms. Sorn Somoline Socio-Economic Specialist
Mr. Nay Sophon Community Development Specialist