Some residents of Phnom Penh’s south and west – particularly those further out – were left without water for at least 12 hours from Monday evening, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority confirmed yesterday.

PPWSA director of production and distribution Ma Noravin said one of Phnom Penh’s four water purification plants was out of action until yesterday due to an electrical malfunction. He could not say what caused the malfunction.

“The pressure in the network dropped and some people had water stability issues because of turbidity in the pipes,” he said. “Now, it is already fixed.”

Some businesses in Daun Penh continued to have no water as of 1pm yesterday. Noravin said that the water would reach them shortly.

The PPWSA’s network has more than 300,000 household water connections, a number that is growing due to steady migration to the capital, Noravin said.

To meet the demand, a new purification plant, which is in the second stage of construction, will open this year.

The construction is using a €30 million (about $33.7 million) loan from the French Development Agency, according to a French Embassy statement on Monday.

The plant is meant to eventually service 350,000 new people on the capital’s outskirts and will be the largest plant in Cambodia.

The Municipal Hall and Ministry of Water Resources could not be reached for comment.