No Power Leads to No Water In Sihanoukville

The water shortage that has led to tens of thousands of households in Sihanoukville without running water for the past week occurred after provincial officials decided to limit power to a water pumping facility operated by the tourist town’s privately-owned distributor, a manager at the water company said yesterday. Faced with widespread blackouts stemming from the country’s patchy power grid, officials at the state-owned Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) decided earlier this month to cut power to a pumping station operated by Anco Water Supply Co. Ltd. at the Kbal Chhay Waterfall and redirect that power to households and businesses in Sihanoukville, said Ngy Sun, the manager of Anco Water supply. … “The water in Prek Tup [lake] started drying up quickly when Kbal Chhay [waterfall] could not supply sufficient water because it did not receive enough electricity,” Mr. Sun said. … Anco Brothers Co. Ltd., the parent company of Anco Water Supply, is owned by well-known business man and CPP Senator Kok An. Anco Brothers have the rights to import Evian mineral water and Budweiser beer into Cambodia. It also has a transmission line from Thailand to Kandal province and a 45-megawatt power plant outside Phnom Penh, according to the company’s website. … Currently Anco sells water to the provincial government for 1,000 reil, or about $0.25 per cubic meter. The provincial department of MIME then resells the water on to users for between 1,500 and 2,000 reil, according to Mr. Chanroeun, who declined to say how much revenue the resale of water brings into provincial coffers. “We use this revenue to pay tax to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and also for the provincial hall,” he said, declining to elaborate on how much, and where those funds were being spent. …

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