Assessing quality of drinking water in the Southern coastal area of Cambodia

Abstract

In order to investigate drinking water sources of inhabitants residing in the South coastal area of Cambodia, fifty-nine and twenty-three water samples were collected from Kampot and Kep provinces, respectively. On-site and chemical measurements were performed following USEPA methods. Analytical results revealed that 28.6% of tube well, 28.6% of dug well and 40% of pond were saline. Approximately, 2.6% of tube well and 17.9% of dug well had As > 10 ppb. Likewise, 29.3% of tube well, 28.6% and 60% of pond had Fe > 0.3 mg L⁻¹ whereas 47.5% of tube well, 45.7% of dug well and 20% of pond had Mn > 0.1 mg L⁻¹. Moreover, 2.5% tube well had F^- > 1.5 mg L⁻¹; 5.7% of tube well and 14.3% of dug well had NO₃^- > 50 mg L⁻¹. This study suggests that some inhabitants residing in the Southern coastal area of Cambodia are exposed to contaminants of health concern (As, F^-, NO₃^-) and experienced water salinization and esthetic properties through their water consumption. As such, water treatment technologies for removing As, F^- and NO₃^- are necessary for coastal inhabitants to minimize their potential health risks.

Keywords:

• water quality
• physicochemical
• heavy metal
• coastal area
• Cambodia

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank students in Food Chemistry Lab, Faculty of Science and Technology, International University for their field and lab assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

Phan, K., Chek, S., Seng, C.Y. and Sieng, H. conceptualized and wrote the manuscript. Kim, K.W., Hoeng, S. and Sieng, H. reviewed and revised the MS. Chek, S., Seng, C.Y., Hoeng, S. and Phan, K. performed data analysis and graphing. All authors read and approved content of the final manuscript.

Availability of data and material

All data are presented in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by GIST Research Institute (GRI) grant funded by the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in 2022.