The Siem Reap River (Steung Siem Reap; km, ស្ទឹងសៀមរាប) is a river flowing through Siem Reap Province, in north-west

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

. The Siem Reap River was originally an offtake channel constructed during the Angkor period, used to divert water from the

Puok River Puok District ( km, ស្រុកពួក) is one of twelve districts in Siem Reap Province, in north-western Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a countr ...

southward, probably to the

East Baray The East Baray ( km, បារាយណ៍ខាងកើត), or Yashodharatataka, is a now-dry baray, or artificial body of water, at Angkor, Cambodia, oriented east-west and located just east of the walled city Angkor Thom. It was built around ...

. Because of the straight nature of a channel, the water flowed much faster than in a natural river. This caused the bed of the channel to erode as much as 10 meters in some areas, and probably caused problems with diverting the water to the East Baray. Over the past thousand years, the channel has gained small

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

s and a unique ecosystem, and thus it is more accurate to call it a river.

References

Rivers of Cambodia Geography of Siem Reap province {{Cambodia-river-stub