Development of Groundwater Management Strategy in Cambodia: Institutional Assessment, Capacity Building Plan and Proposed Key Components of Ground Water Management in Cambodia Phnom Penh, February 2020 Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology United Nations Development Programme Strengthening Climate Information and Early Warning Systems to Support Climate-Resilient Development in Cambodia Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................................ i List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... vii Desk Study on Groundwater Situational Analysis in Cambodia ........................................................... 8 1. General Information Related to Groundwater in Cambodia ........................................................ 8 1.1 Groundwater for domestic supply ...................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Groundwater for irrigation ............................................................................................................... 12 2. Previous Groundwater Studies in Cambodia ............................................................................. 14 3. Hydrogeological Map Description............................................................................................. 15 4. Groundwater Quantity ............................................................................................................ 22 4.1 Groundwater exploitation in Cambodia ........................................................................................... 23 4.2 Groundwater extraction in Cambodia .............................................................................................. 25 4.3 Groundwater recharge in Cambodia ................................................................................................ 27 4.4 Land use change impacts .................................................................................................................. 28 4.5 Climate change impacts .................................................................................................................... 30 5. Groundwater Quality ............................................................................................................... 30 5.1 Groundwater contamination in Cambodia ....................................................................................... 30 5.2 An arsenic problem in Cambodia ...................................................................................................... 32 6. Management Challenges .......................................................................................................... 33 Capacity and Institutional Assessment on Groundwater Management in Cambodia ......................... 35 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 35 2. Methodology and Process of the Institutional Capacity Assessment .......................................... 35 3. Desk Review ............................................................................................................................ 36 3.1 Related laws, regulations, and strategic plans .................................................................................. 36 3.2 Roles and responsibilities of relevant institutions ............................................................................ 37 4. Institutional Capacity Assessment ............................................................................................ 42 4.1 Capacity of relevant government institutions .................................................................................. 42 4.2 Proposed capacity needs .................................................................................................................. 43 Groundwater Management Strategy in Cambodia ........................................................................... 45 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 45 i 2. Legal Framework on Groundwater in Cambodia ....................................................................... 45 3. Vision / Mission ....................................................................................................................... 47 4. Goal ........................................................................................................................................ 47 5. Strategic Objectives ................................................................................................................. 47 6. Proposed Groundwater Management Strategy ......................................................................... 47 6.1 Strategy 1: Strengthening institutional arrangements and law enforcement .................................. 47 6.1.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 47 6.1.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 48 6.2 Strategy 2: Human resource development ....................................................................................... 49 6.2.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 49 6.2.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 50 6.3 Strategy 3: Information and data management ............................................................................... 51 6.3.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 51 6.3.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 51 6.4 Strategy 4: Enhancing coordination mechanisms and cooperation strategies ................................ 55 6.4.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 55 6.4.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 56 6.5 Strategy 5: Knowledge and awareness raising ................................................................................. 57 6.5.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 57 6.5.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 57 6.6 Strategy 6: Financial resource mobilization ...................................................................................... 58 6.6.1 Background and key challenges ................................................................................................. 58 6.6.2 Main actions ............................................................................................................................... 58 7. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting ...................................................................................... 59 Recommendations for Capacity Development Plan for Groundwater Management in Cambodia ...... 61 1. Background ............................................................................................................................. 61 1.1 Groundwater development and use in Cambodia ............................................................................ 61 1.2 Groundwater management issues .................................................................................................... 61 2. Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 62 2.1 Groundwater governance capacity: policy, institutional, law and regulations ................................ 62 2.2 Operational management capacity: operations and maintenance (O&M) ...................................... 63 2.3 Analytical tools capacity: resource exploration, assessment, and prediction .................................. 64 3. Proposed Training Needed ....................................................................................................... 65 ii References ...................................................................................................................................... 69 Annex 1: Structures of Government Agencies Working on Groundwater .......................................... 75 Annex 2: Questionnaire ................................................................................................................... 82 iii List of Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank BDS Basin Development Strategy CCCSP Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan CCDM Commune Committee for Disaster Management CDRI Cambodia Development Resource Institute CIAP Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project