I. Background

Cambodian Water Supply Association (CWA) is a local professional association that has expertise in water service supply both in urban and rural areas of Cambodia. For close to a decade, CWA has been working to support and prevent the interests of water service providers members throughout the country.  CWA has been working with development partners, financial institutions, supplying companies, and relevant ministries, CWA is recognized as a leading actor in collaborating with the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation of Cambodia (MISTI) in bringing clean, safe, and affordable water to all Cambodian people.

CWA’s roles are (1) to support and promote cooperation among water operators in Cambodia, (2) to enhance knowledge and technical skills based upon leading practices in Cambodia, and (3) to encourage the sustainable expansion of water supply services in Cambodia.

As of the third quarter of 2022, CWA had 317 members of which 284 are licensed private water operators, operating in 23 provinces. An estimated 500 Private Water Operators (PWOs) are operating in Cambodia including licensed and unlicensed. The majority of them have been playing an important role in supplying clean and affordable water to Cambodian people in rural and agglomerated areas of Cambodia.

Over the last ten years, they have installed over 500,000 water connections providing water to 2 million people. However, as of today, many poor families and low population density areas do not have access to clean piped water.      It is estimated that only 34% of the population connected to the piped water supply as of 2021. The reasons for low piped water connectivity are manifold including the lack of awareness of the importance of safe piped water, lack of private capital to invest in the piped water assets, shortage of trained manpower in the water sector etc.  CWA has been continually working to resolve the challenges related to the expansion of piped water service. CWA holds many events around the year to bring different stakeholders to find practical solutions to the problems faced by Cambodia piped water sector.

With collaboration with MISTI, CWA proposes to co-organize the 4th Cambodian Water Conference and Exhibition for year-2022 by inviting representatives from relevant governmental agencies, development partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers and academy, water operators (public and private), suppliers, financial institutions (bank and MFIs), etc. to share their knowledge, information and innovation to improve the water supply sector in Cambodia.

II. About the Cambodian Water Conference and Exhibition

This 4^th Cambodian Water Conference and Exhibition are proposed to be held on November 29^th-30^th, 2022 under the theme “Valuing water, don’t wait for the last drop, let’s secure our water future!”.

The proposed event will discuss the following sub-themes:

1. 1. – How to accelerate collaborative efforts from all the stakeholders to meet universal access to water supply by 2030 in Cambodia?
   2. – How to build resilience in a changing climate and respond to emerging climate risks in the water sector
   3. – How to promote greater collaboration between various government ministries to protect water resources and increase sustainable access to clean water?
   4. – Innovative solutions to Cambodia’s key water challenges

• • • • • Water scarcity and
        • Water quality,
        • wastewater treatment, and
        • Water recycling – AWA

1. 1. – Engaging with customers to promote consumption, connections and to improve customer service
   2. – Advancements in new technologies and innovations to improve operations
   3. – Alternative financing solutions for the Cambodian water sector

Apart from the above discussions, the event also proposes to have parallel exhibitions of water-related services and productions by different service providers over the two-day event, such as an exhibition will provide the service providers an opportunity to interact with the target audience and participants to learn and acquire knowledge on new technologies in the piped water supply business.

Date and Place

The 4^th Cambodian Water Conference and Exhibition will be held on November 29^th – 30^th, 2022 at Tonle Bassac II Restaurant, Phnom Penh.

Language

The working languages of the event are Khmer and English to encourage international attendance and participation (simultaneous translation will be provided).

Expected Participant

It is expected to have approximately 600 participants who are governmental officials, development partners, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private water operators, researchers, university students, and supplying companies joining the two-day event.

III. Expected Outcome

The conference will enhance the awareness of participants about the Cambodian water sector trends and challenges. It will also mobilize the efforts of the government, and international, and non-governmental organizations at all levels to provide short-term as well as long-term action points. The service providers who will be exhibiting their technology and solution will be able to reach out to the target market and all the participants will also get aware of the newly available solutions in the piped water sector.

Conference Report