HEALTHY RIVERS FOR ALL Tuul River Basin Report Card • 1 TUUL RIVER MONGOLIA BASIN HEALTH 2019 REPORT CARD Tuul River Basin Report Card • 2 TUUL RIVER BASIN: OVERVIEW The Tuul River headwaters begin in the Lower As of 2018, 1.45 million people were living within Khentii mountains of the Khan Khentii mountain the Tuul River basin, representing 46% of Mongolia’s range (48030’58.9” N, 108014’08.3” E). The river population, and more than 60% of the country’s flows southwest through the capital of Mongolia, GDP. Due to high levels of human migration into Ulaanbaatar, after which it eventually joins the the basin, land use change within the floodplains, Orkhon River in Orkhontuul soum where the Tuul lack of wastewater treatment within settled areas, River Basin ends (48056’55.1” N, 104047’53.2” E). The and gold mining in Zaamar soum of Tuv aimag and Orkhon River then joins the Selenge River to feed Burenkhangai soum of Bulgan aimag, the Tuul River Lake Baikal in the Russian Federation. The catchment has emerged as the most polluted river in Mongolia. area is approximately 50,000 km2, and the river itself These stressors, combined with a growing water is about 720 km long. Ulaanbaatar is approximately demand and changes in precipitation due to global 470 km upstream from where the Tuul River meets warming, have led to a scarcity of water and an the Orkhon River. interruption of river flow during the spring. The Tuul River basin includes a variety of landscapes Although much research has been conducted on the including mountain taiga and forest steppe in water quality and quantity of the Tuul River, there is the upper catchment, and predominantly steppe no uniform or consistent assessment on the state downstream of Ulaanbaatar City. The river itself of the basin. Thus, this report card provides the first flows through 10 soums within 3 aimags including consolidated baseline assessment of the health of the the Tuv aimag (Erdene, Altanbulag, Bayan-Unjuul, basin inclusive of social, environmental and economic Lun, and Zaamar soums); Bulgan aimag (Bayannuur, values that can be tracked over time in response Dashinchilen, and Buregkhangai soums); Selenge to management actions and/or external pressures. aimag (Orkhontuul soum); and 4 districts (Nalaikh, Report card outputs will also contribute data and Bayanzurkh, Khan-Uul and Songinokhairkhan) within information towards meeting Mongolia’s Sustainable Ulaanbaatar City. Development Goals, and supporting implementation of the Mongolia Sustainable Development Vision – 2030. Mining Agriculture Settlement Mongolia Natural 0 25 50 Degraded water quality Kilometers Pasture Tuul River Basin has a diversity of land types and uses Tuul River Basin Report Card • 3 WHAT IS A BASIN REPORT CARD? Report cards are assessment and communication The Tuul River Basin Report Card was created products that compare ecological, social, and/ through a series of stakeholder workshops with or economic information against representatives of Mongolian government agencies, predefined goals or objectives. academic institutions, NGO representatives, and the private sector. During the stakeholder workshops, Similar to school report many indicators were selected to be included in the cards, river basin report card. After compiling the best available data, report cards provide 15 indicators were assessed by comparing each performance-driven indicator with its threshold and designating a report numeric grades or card grade. letters that reflect the status of a river basin The Tuul River Basin was divided into 6 regions on a regular basis. They based on ecosystem condition, urbanization, socio- effectively integrate and economic development, water use, and water synthesize large, and often pollution. The assessment was then conducted for complex, information into simple each indicator at the region level and entire basin scores that can be communicated to decision makers level. and the general public. The Tuul River Basin Report Card River basin report cards have been shown to be a represents the first of its kind powerful instrument to describe ecosystem status, for the basin and can be increase public awareness, and inform and influence updated and improved decision-makers to take action to improve or as needed to best maintain the health of a river basin. represent the status of the basin. The process of developing report cards is highly participatory and includes the following five steps: This first report card i) identification of values and threats, ii) selection of will serve as baseline indicators, iii) definition of thresholds, iv) calculation to measure change in of scores, and v) communication of results. the future in response to management actions, The Tuul River Basin Report Card was jointly inform policy and planning developed by the Tuul River Basin Authority, within the basin, and assist in World Wildlife Fund-Mongolia Programme Office, revising the Integrated Water Resource Management and specialists from World Wildlife Fund-US, the Plan of the Tuul River Basin. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, with funding support from WWF-US and the Asian Development Bank. Tuul River Basin Report Card • 4 DEVELOPING THE TUUL RIVER BASIN REPORT CARD Stakeholders throughout the Tuul River Basin (70 The indicators with sufficient data were related to representatives from 20 organizations) identified the groundwater use, status of water bodies, spring and most important values of the basin and determined summer runoff, groundwater quality, surface water key threats to these values during a workshop held quality, overgrazing, non-agricultural land degrada- 17-19th October, 2017. The values and threats were tion, biotic health index, investment in water resource grouped into the following categories: Water Quantity protection, living standard, access to safe and afford- and Quality; Governance and Management; Society able water, access to improved sanitation facilities, air and Economy; Human Health; Landscapes and Eco- pollution, surface water monitoring, and implementa- systems. tion of the Integrated Water Resource Management Plan. These indicators form the basis of the Tuul River For each category, several indicators were deter- Basin Health Report Card. mined that could be used to calculate the status of basin health. Unfortunately, data were not available for all proposed indicators. INVESTMENT IN WATER RESOURCE LIVING PROTECTION STANDARD GROUNDWATER SURFACE WATER STATUS OF USE MONITORING WATER BODIES SOCIETY & SPRING AND ECONOMY SUMMER & Y G T RUNOFF I M O L Y A V A T I N E U T A R GROUND Q N G N A E A R TUUL M WATER U N E C T Q E E QUALITY A N & T IMPLEMENTATION W RIVER BASIN OF THE INTEGRATED SURFACE WATER RESOURCE WATER QUALITY VALUES MANAGEMENT PLAN & S H E E P S A CA M LT S TE H AND S L SY DRINKING ECO BIOTIC WATER INDEX SUPPLY ACCESS TO SANITATION NON-AGRICULTURAL AIR OVERGRAZING LAND DEGRADATION POLLUTION Indicators of basin health identified for the Tuul River Basin Tuul River Basin Report Card • 5 INDICATORS OF TUUL RIVER BASIN HEALTH Water Quality & Quantity Society & Economy Groundwater use: The amount of groundwater Investment in water resource protection: The used in Ulaanbaatar city, 20 soums in Tuv, Bulgan, amount of allocated resources for water resource Selenge, Uvurkhangai and Arkhangai aimags protection, collected from the annual water use fees, was compared against the sustainable limit of measured against the legally set benchmark of 35% . groundwater exploitation. Living standard: Based on comparison of Status of water bodies: Based on the hydrological the monthly average per capita earnings of the inventory, the status of water bodies have been population against the poverty line. assessed by comparing the numbers of rivers, springs, lakes, marshes, and ponds that have dried out compared with baseline status. Health Spring and summer runoff: Comparative assessment of the runoff of April, May and June Access to drinking water: Proportion of the against long-term average runoff during the low flow population with access to adequate drinking season in the Tuul, Terelj, Uliastai and Selbe rivers. water supplies, measured against the sustainable development goal. Groundwater quality: Concentrations of total Escherichia coli bacteria, ammonium, nitrates, and Access to sanitation: Proportion of the population nitrites in well water compared to the “Standard with access to improved sanitation facilities measured MNS 0900:2018 – Drinking water quality and Security against the sustainable development goal. Assessment”. Air pollution: Levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen Surface water quality: Levels of pollutants were dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, fine and large compared against the standards and guidelines particles (PM2.5, PM10), compared against air quality within Standard MN4586-98, “Quality criteria of the standard MNS4585:2016. The assessment period is water environment” and “Surface water cleanness limited to October to March, which corresponds to degree classification”. highest levels of air pollution. Landscapes & Ecosystems Governance & Management Overgrazing: Assessment of the number of livestock Surface water monitoring: The number of surface relative to the current pasture carrying capacity. water monitoring stations relative to the number needed to effectively monitor the state of surface Non-agricultural land degradation: The waters. percentage of land-use for urban settlements; Implementation of Integrated Water Resource exploitation of forest and water resources;