Project Description
Assessment for Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) in the Water Supply Sector
Client: Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (MISTI) | Donor: The World Bank (WB) | Duration: April 2022 – January 2023 | Location: Cambodia
Due to significant efforts by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), provincial and local authorities, donors, and financial institutions over the last 30 years, there has been significant progress in ensuring that communities have access to reliable supplies of reasonable to good quality water in line with the RGC 2003 Drinking Water Standard.
However, the coverage and capacity of water supply systems serving domestic users across Cambodia are still highly variable.[1] In more remote and impoverished areas, only 17% of rural households are serviced by piped water supply facilities, whereas in urban areas, this increases to nearly 80%.
Among those rural households with access to piped treated water, most (68%) are in areas serviced by domestic private water suppliers[2] whose growth has spurred due to a lack of public funding. Yet, private operators are not well regulated, and their practices can be inefficient with cheap and non-durable materials causing high rates of leakage, non-essential investments, and a lack of monitoring.
With these concerns in mind, strengthening the resilience of water sources and supply is a top priority for emerging towns and rural growth centres. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are an essential and cost-effective strategy for increasing resiliency to these stressors and generate a variety of co-benefits beyond the water sector by supporting poverty alleviation, community health and wellbeing, biodiversity protection, and climate mitigation. NbS, including Green Infrastructure (GI), are increasingly being integrated into water management strategies as standalone and hybrid measures to provide flexible and durable improvements to water supply, storage, regulation, and quality services. Examples of nature-based solutions are presented in Figure 1. They are relatively fast to implement and scale up and often have lower technology requirements and costs. NbS delivery can be highly decentralized, engage local communities and beneficiaries in their implementation, draw on the use of local materials and lead to healthy places, promoting ecological and social recovery and resilience.
This assignment will support the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (MISTI), which is an implementing agency under WaSSIP in exploring NBS to address multiple concerns simultaneously, impacting sources of water impeding water supply system operations and opportunities that facilitate action and mainstream NBS in water supply policy or the influence of other sectors for achieving water supply sustainability.
[1] WHO/UNICEF 2020. Joint Monitoring Program: Rural and Urban Drinking Water Service Levels 2015 and 2020.
[2] Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation and Investing in Infrastructure Program. 2020. Provincial Investment Plan in Piped Water Supply in Cambodia.
