Rethinking Urban Water Use: Lessons from Cambodia’s Complex City Networks

Pale Batis

29-10-2025

Kingfisher tilts his head. “I dive. I catch fish. I know what’s real because I touch it. You dream. Is that knowing?”
Zhuangzi chuckles. “You know the water. I know the dream. Different ways of knowing.”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

Urban water systems in developing countries often face the dual challenge of rapid urbanization and fragmented infrastructure [2-4]. A new study by Ross et al. [5] in the Journal of Cleaner Production explores this issue through a detailed analysis of residential water end-use in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The researchers developed a bottom-up model to understand how different social, economic, and infrastructural conditions influence daily water consumption in a city marked by inequality and technological diversity.

The team surveyed 97 households across two adjacent villages—Wat Svay (urban) and Kakranh (peri-urban)—representing a microcosm of Cambodia’s evolving water landscape. Using semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and flow measurements, the study identified distinct water-use patterns based on income, tenure, and access typology. Average daily per capita use was 151.6 liters, but this varied significantly depending on whether households relied on piped water, boreholes, or hand pumps. Urban households with reticulated water and modern fixtures consumed more water per capita, while peri-urban residents often depended on groundwater and manual methods, using less but facing higher public health risks.

Crucially, the study shows that water access shapes behavior and values. Where water is metered or piped, convenience can lead to overuse; where access is limited, water becomes a symbol of resilience, frugality, and community adaptation. This socio-technical heterogeneity challenges traditional “one-size-fits-all” water policies. Instead, context-specific planning that integrates technical efficiency with local values and lived realities will be a more suitable approach.

Understanding water not merely as a commodity but as a shared life-supporting system can foster higher NQ—where communities act with awareness of interdependence between human welfare and ecological stability [6]. As cities like Siem Reap expand, policies rooted in empathy, inclusivity, and adaptive learning will be essential for sustainable water governance and societal peace with nature [7,8].

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] van Welie MJ, et al. (2018). Analysing transition pathways in developing cities: the case of Nairobi's splintered sanitation regime. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137, 259-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.059

[3] Lawhon M, et al. (2017). Thinking through heterogeneous infrastructure configurations. Urban Studies, 55(4), 720-732. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017720149

[4] Mills F, et al. (2020). Costs, climate and contamination: three drivers for citywide sanitation investment decisions. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8, 19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2020.00130

[5] Ross S, et al. (2025). Residential end-use water demand analysis for a heterogeneous urban water and sanitation configuration in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 530, 146757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146757

[6] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[7] Tran TT. (2025). Flying beyond didacticism: The creative environmental vision of ‘Wild Wise Weird’. Young Voices of Science. https://youngvoicesofscience.org/?p=1963

[8] Vuong QH, La VP, Nguyen MH. (2025). Informational entropy-based value formation: A new paradigm for a deeper understanding of value. Evaluation Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X251396210