Meet Mrs. Eam Kheng newly connected to safe drinking water

Like millions of Cambodians, Mrs. Eam Kheng from Trapang Russei village used to rely on expensive water deliveries by truck, as there are no readily available sources of ground or surface water in her community. It was not possible to verify the origin of this water or whether it was treated in any way. Deliveries could also be unreliable or take a long time to arrive, especially during the busy holiday periods.

Since connecting to the supply of Tram Khnar station, she has consistent and reliable access to much better quality and cheaper water just at the turn of a tap.

Of the 11.8 Million Cambodians residing in rural areas, 7.1 million rely on untreated and non-reliable water sources for improved water and over 4 million people have no access to improved water. Only 600k (8.5%) people are connected to the piped water.

About KWSH

KWSH is working toward the consolidation of the fragmented piped water sector of Cambodia by acquiring, standardizing, and expanding small-scale piped water stations throughout the country. Nexus’s decision to invest is driven by KWSH’s track record in delivering piped water to rural Cambodia, where only 8.5% of households are connected to piped water. The company has already connected over 13,000 households to piped water and has a long-term plan to provide clean water to over 60,000 households and 300,000 individuals. Read more

The Nexus Pioneer Facility provided a $500,000 loan to KWSH in Q2 2019, after the company had recently acquired its fourth water license in Tram Khnar (Takeo Province). This loan provided KWSH with the financial capacity to maintain its strong start to investments at this new station, including the installation of over 15km of new pipelines to service areas which were previously excluded from the piped water market. As a result, clean piped water consumption and the number of connected beneficiaries both grew YoY by roughly a quarter by Q1 2020. This strong foundation has provided the station with sufficient revenues to continue self-financing its expansion, with the aim to construct a new water treatment plant and install new pumping equipment in 2020 in order to increase production & distribution capacity.

William Puyo, General Manager, KWSH

During 2019, KWSH added 1,617 new connections to its portfolio and saw average household water consumption rise from 6.89m3 to 11.18 m3. KWSH plays also an important role within the communities by generating awareness on the benefits of clean piped water and facilitating more accommodating billing and payment collections through partnering with local MFIs and mobile money companies to provide easy access to customers to easy payment channels.

About Pioneer Facility

Pioneer Facility is an innovative fund under Nexus’ management that provides scale-up capital, via working capital or capex loans, to enterprises that offer sustainable energy and clean water solutions to underserved populations in Southeast Asia.

For more information please contact: pioneerfacility@nexusfordevelopment.org