New partnership to strengthen the country’s access to water through intelligent water solutions

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Global pumps leader Grundfos and the Ministry of Industry & Handicraft, Cambodia today confirmed that they will exchange a Letter of Intent to strengthen cooperation in water management, in an effort to reduce the cost of water and increase access to clean, quality water in the country.

His Excellency Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry & Handicraft, Cambodia and Mr. Leong Chee Khuan, Area Managing Director – South Asia, Grundfos highlighted that the Letter of Intent will include an endorsement of Grundfos by the Cambodian government, welcoming its latest technology and business models to reduce non-revenue water and boost water management efficiency.

One of the biggest water management challenges for Cambodia is its water infrastructure, which is prone to leakages and insufficient water pressure when serving cities and provinces during peak hours of water consumption. This leads to cases experiencing up to 40 per cent in non-revenue water (NRW), or water that is lost or otherwise unaccounted for in the system.

H.E. Cham Prasidh said, “As Cambodia’s economy grows rapidly, we’ve seen an increasing demand for clean water, and we expect this demand to increase to 0.8 million cubic metres per day by 2025, and to one million cubic meters per day by 2030. This will place more pressure on our water utility facilities to provide efficient and reliable water access.

“We are excited to work with an industry leader like Grundfos to improve Cambodia’s access to clean, quality water. We believe Grundfos’ innovative technology and solutions will have significant impact on our water management systems.”

Mr. Leong Chee Khuan, Grundfos said, “Grundfos is committed to helping Cambodia strengthen the quality, reliability and sustainability of its water supply. We are pleased to work with the Cambodian government in its mission to achieve greater water security by levering our leading industry innovation.”

To tackle Cambodia’s water challenges, Grundfos introduced a pilot project in the Takeo province using its Demand Driven Distribution solution. It is an intelligent water distribution system which automatically adjusts the water flow using remote sensors, reducing excessive pressure in the water pipes. This in turn limits water leakages and losses, minimising cost and energy. Chemicals usage is also drastically reduced due to more data being available to ensure accurate dosage, ultimately reducing costs along the way.

To encourage adoption of this new technology, Grundfos also created a new business model to remove the barrier of the usual upfront investment. The plant operator is paying for the pump system through annual instalments, which are financed by the money saved on energy and water bills due to the equipment upgrade.

As part of this project model, the plant operator is able to track their savings through Grundfos’ Remote Management system, an Internet-based remote monitoring, management and reporting system for pump installations.

The strategy of implementing the innovative solution together with the business model helped the plant save more than 270,000 kWh in electricity and around 200,000 m³ water per year, with a projected payback period of two and a half years.

Mr. Leong Chee Khuan, Grundfos also said, “Our work in Takeo has shown us that our new business model has huge potential in Cambodia and other countries where water utility authorities need not be held back by financial considerations when investing in new and efficient technologies. The success of this pilot project is encouraging, and we look forward to introducing this approach to the rest of Cambodia. We believe the model will open doors for our solutions to truly make a difference to Cambodia’s water utilities.”