Sustainable water management in the Angkor Temple Complex, Cambodia

Abstract

The headwater catchment of the Siem Reap River has supplied the Angkor Temple Complex and surrounding communities since the twelfth century. The Angkor Temple Complex area consists of historical moats and barays (reservoirs) which are currently used to store the water from the Siem Reap River to maintain temple foundation, irrigate cultivation areas and provide floodwater storage. The Angkor Wat Temple, which is located in the complex, was constructed on a sandy alluvial substrate and needs a stable supply of water to avert land subsidence and destabilization of the temple foundation. In light of changing climate, land use and land cover (LULC) trends, it is crucial to examine the wide-ranging implications of reduced water supply for the Angkor Temple Complex. Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, this study seeks to assess the conditions necessary to provide sustainable streamflow to the Angkor Temple Complex. We modelled 30 scenarios of co-varied LULC and precipitation regime under a changing climate. The results show that under most LULC scenarios, sufficient water resources can be harvested to supply the complex—however—any further loss of forest cover is likely to impact groundwater conditions, flood management and dry season shortages. Conversely, the water supply to the complex is shown to be sensitive under the range of climate scenarios explored; a reduction of more than 10–20% in mean annual precipitation was enough to put the water supply under stress for the current and future conditions of the complex.

Ecosystem characteristics of land covers with various anthropogenic impacts in a tropical forest region of Southeast Asia

“…2a). The total annual rainfall was 2290 mm, which is significantly higher than the 1160 mm recorded at the Banteay Srei station 1475 mm at the Siem Reap City station (Chim et al, 2021). About 90 % of the annual precipitation fell during the rainy season from May to November, with September being the wettest month S3.1 for annual statistics, and Fig.…”