Application of the City Blueprint Approach in Landlocked Asian Countries: A Case Study of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Urbanization is a major global development. At present, more than half of the world population lives in urban areas, i.e., cities. One of the fundamental requirements of citizens is safe and sufficient drinking water. The premises for water security are adequate water management and governance. In this study, we determine priorities for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and assess the governance capacities of different organizations to address IWRM in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of the landlocked Asian country Mongolia. We apply the City Blueprint Approach (CBA), a diagnosis tool, to assess IWRM in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia. The overall score, the Blue City Index (BCI), is 2.3 points for Ulaanbaatar, which categorizes the city as wasteful. Flood risk and economic pressure have a great impact on the water sector in Ulaanbaatar city. In particular, Ulaanbaatar’s waste water treatment (WWT) can be improved. Often, only primary and a small portion of secondary WWT is applied, leading to large-scale pollution. Water consumption and infrastructure leakages are high due to the lack of environmental awareness and infrastructure maintenance. Operation cost recovery is not sufficient to sustain urban water services in Ulaanbaatar. Water governance and more specifically monitoring, evaluation and statutory compliance are among the factors that need to be addressed.