Cambodia Infield Investigation

The Tonle Sap Lake and river system in Cambodia is home to 1.2 million people, around a quarter of whom live in floating communities on the lake. The lake is of great significance to all Cambodians; over 75% of the country's fish catch is sourced from the Tonle Sap. Cultural and societal links to the lake are also strong. However, poor sanitation practices have put the long term environmental sustainability of the lake and its inhabitants at risk.
At present, residents living in floating barges dispose of human, animal and food waste directly into the lake. This greatly affects the water quality of the lake, and has lasting effects on the health of Tonle Sap residents. Similar health concerns arise for those residents relying on wood fired stoves for cooking applications. These concerns, combined with Cambodia's extremely high deforestation rate, add impetus to replace current cooking methods. There is clearly a great need, and a resolute aspiration within these communities, to implement more sustainable, environmentally friendly waste management solutions.
Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in partnership with developing communities in Australia and overseas, assisting these communities to gain access to the knowledge, resources and appropriate technologies they need to improve their livelihood. EWB has been working with Live and Learn Environmental Education, a Cambodian NGO, in addressing the sanitation needs of floating communities on the Tonle Sap. In 2010 a community wide sanitation barge was built in the Phat Sanday community. This barge is used to test various waste management proposals and educate the community to engage in improved sanitary practices.
One such initiative being tested on the sanitation barge is the installation of a continuous flow floating biodigester. Human, animal and food waste is treated by the biodigester and can then be used as a fertiliser or alternatively safely disposed of into the lake. This process is known as anaerobic digestion, and produces a useful by-product known as biogas. Capturing this biogas has the potential to be of great value to the community as it contains a significant proportion of
methane. Biogas can been effectively used in a variety of rural applications as fuel for cooking and lighting.
It is within this framework that this project is based. This project aims to develop, design and test a device to capture, treat and store useful amounts of biogas for use in the community. Even though the project design will be based on a prototype biodigester being installed on a test barge, attention will be given to ensure the final device is scalable and can be altered for use in a variety of different applications, depending on the specific needs of the community.



While in Cambodia, the authors travelled to the Phat Sanday community to conduct a series of studies and to gain a personal appreciation of the local environment. The trip was based on achieving three main goals; conducting a feasibility study into material availability and cost, engaging with the local community and environment to gain an understanding of the relevance of 2
this project, and finally to assist in the installation of the continuous flow biodigester. The trip proved invaluable to the merit of the final report, particularly as slight design alterations could be made before final submission to EWB.
It is expected that following the successful operation of the continuous flow biodigester, the Phat Sanday community will be eager to test this biogas capture and storage device. EWB and Live and Learn have a long term commitment to the community and the authors of this report are confident that this solution will provide a tangible benefit to the community in the long term, and if successful the solution could be introduced to other communities on the lake.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Cambodia
• NGO
• Engineering
• Engineers
• Without
• Borders
• Tonle
• Sap
• Khmer
• Australia
• University
• of
• Melbourne
• Mechanical
• Biogas
• Capture
• Storage
• Dreamlarge

[laura17389]

great music:)