Flash flooding in Kampot.
Image from afitzgerald on current.com
Cambodia has two seasons: monsoon and dry season. Since many areas of Cambodia contain high drainage densities and low permeability, meaning fewer places for the intense rainwater to absorb into the soil or drain nicely into rivers or streams, flash flooding presents a common problem.
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Map of the Tonle Sap and Mekong river
Image from Wikipedia |
Most of Cambodia’s rivers and streams empty into the Mekong River, the largest river in Southeast Asia, or the Tonle Sap Basin. Water from nearby streams feed into collective areas called drainage basins. The drainage pattern of the Tonle Sap’s adjoining rivers is shaped like tree branches, indicating that it is a dendritic basin.
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E.coli rope test sampling.
Image by Andrew Shantz on andrewincambodia.blogspot.com |
Most Cambodians lack plumbing and draw their water from wells, which pump water from permeable formations called aquifers. During the dry season, droughts present limitations on the water supplies available. The threat of drawdown, or the depletion of water from wells faster than it is produced, is a also a major concern along with worries of contamination due to pollution, drainage, and bacteria. Technology provides some relief from all of that, however, as ceramic filters that trap bacteria and E. coli rope tests are being introduced to save lives.
Sources:
Andrew Shantz (andrewincambodia.blogspot.com)
http://www.africanwater.org/mekong_river.htm
