Clean Water for Talle Batti, Cambodia

The children in the community suffer from a wide range of heath problems and high mortality rates stemming from contaminated water. Despite several attempts to filter the water, it still smells foul and remains a yellow-brown color. During the rainy season, water is collected in barrels. During the dry season the community often resorts to finding stagnant water in ditches.

Most of the 3,500 residents in the community work in the rice fields. They have little or no education and struggle to meet basic needs.

The village is hoping that with a clean water supply, the children's health will improve. Healthy children will be able to start an education program, as the Cambodia-Dutch Organization (CDO) is an active NGO in the area focusing on primary education. CDO is also the organization which helped the community apply for assistance from EWB-USA. They will continue to be a vital partner to our chapter.

Several solutions have been attempted in the past but all failed within a year. One of our chapter's biggest challenges is establishing trust within the community. Our solution will be that can be maintained by the village. We will provide education to the community on basic maintenance and we are committed to staying involved in the community for at least five years to complete other sanitation projects as well as ensuring continued success with their water supply.