Floating Community Ecological Sanitation Project on the Tonle Sap Lake

Water and sanitation are some of the most pressing issues facing people in rural Cambodia, and they are even more difficult to access for people that live in floating and flood-affected communities on Cambodia’s waterways. Human development in the country is still restrained by pollution and poor health, yet there is a lack of appropriate options for addressing these issues and managing sanitation. The end result is that human excreta is disposed in the environment leading to the contamination of waters, soils and dust, thus adding to the burden of diseases. In an attempt to find an innovative solution to the sanitation issues in Cambodia, the Live & Learn Environmental Education Cambodia (L&L) partnered with Engineers without Borders (EWB) to develop technologies suited for the floating communities of the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia. This case study illustrates floating toilets and floating biodigesters developed as affordable sanitation options for the floating communities.

This teaching case is available here.

Published by Sustainable Sanitation Alliance.