Updates on Industrial Wastewater
management in Cambodia
Chandath Him
Deputy Director of Air Quality, Noise and Vibration
Management Department, Ministry of Environment
The 18th WEPA Annual Meeting andInternational Workshop on Industrial Wastewater Management
8th- 10th February 2023, Siemreap, Cambodia

1. Overview of industrial waste water as pollution sources
Industry

Significance as pollution sources
High
ModerateLow
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Very low☐☐☒☐☐☐☐☒☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☒☒☒☒☐☐☒☒☒☐☐☐☐☐☐☒☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Very highFood, beverages, tobacco☐
Textile, apparels, leather☐
Wood, wood products☐
Paper, paper products, printing☐
Chemicals, chemical products☐
Pharmaceuticals, medicinal☐☐
chemical products
Rubber and plastics products☐☐
Metal manufacturing☐☐
Electrical equipment☐☐
Machinery and equipment☐☐
Motor vehicles, other transport☐☐
equipment
Livestock industries☐☐
Mining and quarrying☐☐
Petroleum refining☐☐
Other industries (please specify in the rows below)
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1. Overview of industrial waste water as pollution sources

By illegal and unintentional discharge of untreatedwastewater from some industries, water characteristic waschanged in quality, color and smell. Plants and aquatic life has
been destroyed in some cases. However, water quality wasrecovery in the sort period of time after prevention action.
There isn’t any studies or records on long-term impact cause
by industrial wastewater.

2. Regulatory framework for industrial waste water management
No.

Regulations

Related to Water

1

Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia (1993)

The state shall protect the environment,water, air,..

2Laws on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource
Management (1996)

Protection the water, land, air,..

3

Law on Water Resource Management (2007)

To foster the effective and sustainable
management of the water resources of theKingdom of Cambodia to attain socioeconomic development and the welfare ofthe people.

4

Sub decree no. 27 on Water Pollution Control (1999) andsub decree no. 103 on revised water pollution control subdecree (2022)

Effluent standard, classification of pollution
sources, surface water quality standard andhuman health protection standard

2. Regulatory framework for industrial waste water management
No.

Regulations

Objective5

Sub-decree on Environmental Impact Assessment (1999)

Managing environmental pollution frominvestment projects

6

Sub-decree on Solid Waste Management (1999)

Improve solid waste management

7

Sub-decree on the Management of Sewage andWastewater Treatment System (2017)

Improve the management of drainage andwastewater treatment system in term ofefficiency, transparency, and accountability
to ensure safety, public health, andbiodiversity conservation.

3. Industrial effluent standards

Divided into 3 categories of water recipient sources such as:(1) Type 1 of public water area (Non flow water sources)(2) Type 2 of public water area (flow water sources)(3) Sewage connecting to sewage treatment plants

3. Industrial effluent standards

3 types of pollution sources require to have permit
before discharging the wastewater:(1) Discharge volume of wastewater >40m3/day(2) Discharge volume of wastewater >20m3/day(3) All type

4. Status of effluent monitoring/inspection

MoE has established a Prakas on “SelfMonitoring” and pushed potential polluters
installed such system and transfer real time
data on effluent quality, effluent volume aswell as common monitoring parameters toMinistry of Environment.
Industries (categorized by sub-decree) arerequired to apply for discharge permit.
Department of Water Quality Management
has duties to monitor or take sample for lab
analysis before providing Discharge Permit.
Inspection teams was created for regularly
monitor to those industrial sector.

5. Compliance with regulations for effluent standards

Total number (or ratio)

Garment
Washing
Jean Washing
Washing & Dyeing
FootwearBags
Fur Processing
TextileTextile & Washing
Paint Processing
Carton Processing
Can Processing
Beverages/BeerPrintingYear ofinspection

Total numberof inspections

Number (orratio) ofcomplied
entities/plants

Number (or ratio)of NOT complied
entities/plants

2021

395

NA

2022

324

NA

16 (Data fromInspection
Activities)NA6. Issues and challenges, future targets/plans for proper industrial
wastewater management- Promoting install online monitoring system, but the rate for installing still low 6/100 due to global economic downturn- Challenging in promoting installing wastewater treatment plant for agro-industrial such as mango factories due toinconsistent operation (waste generation by season) of the industries

7. Recent development in water environmental governance
Policy measures
New legal
documents/acts
amendments
Developed strategy
documents
Setup new targets forthe improvement ofwater environment
Capacity building of
the agency

Any other updates(local levelgovernance,monitoringdevelopment,institutional change,etc.)

Yes

No☒

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If yes, please provide short description- Update sub decree on water pollution control for
improving wastewater management from industries- Develop Water Quality Index for evaluating water
quality at the public water area and simplify result foreasy understanding of the public (2021)
Environmental management was also a main sector totake action and was stated in Rectangle- Training national and sub national official on applying
guidebook for pollution loading estimation on Tonle
Sap Lake- Training national and sub-national level young officials
on water quality management- Continue providing capacity building support program
to sub-national level- Continue monitoring water quality at the designatedstation and determining the hot spot pollution area
- Improving administration and enhancing the efficiencyof work.
- Royal Government of Cambodia is preparing new interministerial team for inspection purposes chaired by
Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. This teamwill help to reduce number of missions conducted bysingle mission from different ministries by combining
officials from relevant ministries to join mission
together.

Thank you very much for your kind attention