They blame their exposure to the waste and a water supply possibly tainted by runoff from the dumpsite on the hill above them. Chhim Poeu, a teacher in Bettrang, says that many local people connect the dump site with numerous deaths over the past year. Prove it As far as the Cambodian government is concerned, there is no longer any cause for residents to worry. According to Heng Nareth, Director of the Department of Pollution Control under the Ministry of the Environment, comprehensive surface and ground water testing was conducted by the WHO in recent months at eight locations in and around the former dump site. The waste testing has not gone unchallenged, however.
International environmentalists are also skeptical.
Jim Puckett, of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network, is particularly critical of the unrestricted access to the former dumping site. Of particular concern, he says, are those who regularly comb the site for beetles and lizards which they eat or sell in the Sihanoukville market. The area should be cordoned off and placed under guard, the ground water and soil continually tested until levels reach background level. As of yesterday, however, not even the non-solution was being put into practice. The containers stand where they are, their doors flapping at passersby.