Committee To Tackle Angkor Water Problems

siem reap town – The Inter­na­tional Coordinating Committee of Angkor is scheduled today to hold its first meeting since 36 coun­tries and 20 international or­ganizations met in Paris in No­vember to discuss Angkor con­ser­­vation over the next 10 years.

The schedule for the two-day event includes a full day to review wat­er management and environ­men­tal and infrastructure projects in Siem Reap province and the Ang­­kor Archeological Park. Coun­tries and organizations stated in Par­is that development projects for the region should be discussed by the ICC since they affect Angkor.

Last week, participants in the Bayon Symposium in Siem Reap were given a preview of the problems the ICC will have to address.

During a special session Friday on water resources for Siem Reap town and the Angkor park, the lack of coordination among government agencies was apparent.

At one point, Japanese Ambas­sador Takahashi Fumiaki asked gov­­ern­ment organizations to de­cide among themselves and tell Jap­­an what they want, since Jap­an has been involved in a major wa­ter man­agement project in the area. He also pointed out that, with­out suf­ficient data, long-term plans may fail.

Uk Someth, deputy director general of Apsara Authority—the government agency managing Angkor park—made a plea for a long-term solution to the water problem in the area.

Vann Molyvann, special envoy of King Norodom Sihanouk, replied that Japan had come up with such a solution in the late 1990s, along with a grant to implement it. But since Cambodian authorities at the time wanted drink­ing water to be handled by a private company and the Japan­ese government would not fund a pro­ject benefiting private interests, the project was delayed, he said.

Siem Reap river and canals that cross the 401-square-km historical park are part of a hydraulic system starting at Phnom Kulen and ending in Tonle Sap lake. While water is one of the biggest threats to the conservation of the temples, Apsara has no authority beyond the park to address any issues that may affect it.

Experts stress that drastic chang­es in the underground-wa­ter level could cause the temples to sink. Therefore it is imperative to collect data on the amount of wa­ter pumped by hotels to know wheth­er the water level is dropping, Fumiaki said.

Peng Navuth of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy said at the session that tourists use nearly four times more water than residents.

 

Related Stories

Latest News