Perceptions Study on Water Use in the Khanbogd Soum

Country: Mongolia
Location within Country: Khanbogd soum, South Gobi aimag

Project Duration: 2 months

Name of Client: The Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia Inc.
Address: 7th floor, ‘Seoul Business Center’ Office Complex, Zaluuchuud avenue-26, Bayanzurkh district, Ulaanbaatar-210349, Tel: 331880

Total No of person-months of the project: 15.6

Start Date:
June 2007

Completion Date:
August 2007

Approx. Value of Contract provided by your company: 38,300.00 U$

Name of associated firm(s) if any:
No

No. of Person-Months of Professional
Staff Provided by Associated Firm(s):

Name of Senior Staff (Project Director/Co-ordinator, Team Leader) involved and functions performed
Dr. Enkh-Amgalan, Team Leader, Centre for Policy Research, functions performed:

• Provided overall project management
• Coordinated with project key stakeholders

Detailed Narrative Description of Project: The objectives of the study were to identify the perceptions of local people in the Khanbogd soum on key issues of water supply.

Detailed Description of Actual Services provided by your Company:

• Designed survey instruments for studying the use of water for both animal and human drinking
• Completed a primary data collection field survey covering 58 herding households from all 4 bags of the soum which represented different wealth categories in terms of herd size. The remaining 220 households interviewed using a short list of questions with emphasis on the selected regions – Gunii Khooloi, Oyu Tolgoi, road from Oyu Tolgoi to the border trade point at Gashuun Sukhait
• Prepared digital maps of water users and their seasonal camp movements– both rural and urban users, reflecting the geographic locations of water points, wells, patterns and migration routes of seasonal pastures for each of herding households

• Documented historical water use / consumption and changing rural and urban consumption patterns, depending on seasons or other factors
• Studied the existing methods, informal and formal, for monitoring water quality by water users
• Studied ways in which water resources are managed by herders, including during times of drought or when stocking ratios are in danger of degrading pastoral resources
• Identified local perceptions of what factors affect water availability and quality in wells and springs, the fair and unfair use of groundwater and surface water resources
• Studied customary rights to groundwater and surface water resources and compared them with formal legal rights to these resources.
• Identified roles played by parties (organizations or individuals) with formal or informal responsibility for managing water resources and the mechanism employed
• Studied existing mechanisms – informal and formal – to resolve conflicts over water use / water rights.