Abstract:
Clean water is a basic human necessity that is essential for the health of all population, yet
700 million people worldwide lack access to this vital resource, particularly in developing
countries like Cambodia. This results in high incidences of water-borne illnesses due to the
use of contaminated sources and is a burden that prevents people from leading productive
lives. Slow sand filtration, both on the municipal level and the household level, is a low-cost
technology that has been implemented around the world to address this problem, yet
biosand filtration has not been widely implemented on a community level due to the lack of
tested, effective filter technology. In this pilot project, a community-scale biosand filter was
designed, constructed and tested to determine if it can meet the water needs of a small
floating village in the Siem Reap Province of Cambodia. With the collaboration of local
partner organizations, this project demonstrated that community-scale biosand filters are a
viable and effective solution to rural clean water challenges in Cambodia.
