Upcoming bill prohibits underground water usage in mining www.zgm.mn
The Parliament recently discussed the amendments to the Law on Water and other related bills. The draft specified the right to use water and prohibited the exploitation of underground freshwater for mining and industrial purposes.
Approximately 80 percent of Mongolia's water is supplied by 1.9 percent of the total reserves of groundwater and there are deficient legal and regulatory documents governing the use and protection of groundwater. Furthermore, the issue of regulating the relations between citizens, business entities, and organizations that are using underground water, as well as improving the monitoring and accountability of the groundwater is becoming a problem.
Also, it is important to prohibit the use of underground freshwater deposits in specific industries, to set abandoned bores, water use, and consumption priorities, to increase the right to the drinking water consumption of citizens, to increase the use of surface water and to define water scarcity levels. The draftsmen believe that there is a need for the socioeconomic necessity to create a legal environment for monitoring.
The draft law was postponed to proceed at the next session due to the failure to meet the quorum.
Published Date:2019-04-23