Katja Sigel

Modular Concept for Municipal Water Management in the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia

Mongolia is a country with limited water resources but a rising water consumption due to an increasing population, urbanization and economic growth, which is largely driven by a booming mining sector. These processes do not only lead to greater water abstractions, but also contribute to water quality and aquatic ecosystem deterioration. Urban areas play a key role in this context, since water abstractions and waste water generation are concentrated here. However, there are considerable disparities between urban centers with centralized water supply and sewage infrastructures and peri-urban regions. Where existant, infrastructures for drinking water supply and wastewater collection and treatment are often in a poor state of maintenance, leading to the contamination of groundwater and surface water bodies with pathogens, nutrients, and other chemical substances. This paper presents components of a modular concept for urban water management at the example of Darkhan Uul Aimag, which were developed and pilot-tested in the context of a project aiming at the development and implementation of an integrated water resources management (IWRM) for the North Mongolian Kharaa River Basin. It is discussed how solutions were adapted to local situations, considering both sustainable resource utilization and local acceptance.

Insights Regarding Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Transfer Gained from Two Case Studies on Integrated Water Resources Management in Ukraine and Mongolia

Abstract Transdisciplinary environmental research (TD research) seeks to solve problems arising at the point of interaction between ecological systems, the economy, and society. It seeks to enhance problem-solving capacity through interdisciplinarity and knowledge transfer between scientific and non-scientific actors. The article assesses how far the prerequisites for knowledge transfer are met in transdisciplinary projects on integrated water resources management (IWRM), particularly in post-socialist transition countries. It examines two relevant case studies, in Ukraine and Mongolia, which share a similar institutional and cultural background, and use some of the same methods closely related to knowledge transfer. It is shown that, in each case, knowledge transfer was achieved more or less effectively in both directions — from science to society and vice versa, despite the additional obstacles posed by a common post-socialist legacy. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for designing and implementing similar TD research projects in the field of IWRM.

Sustainable Transformation of Urban Water Infrastructure in Amman, Jordan – Meeting Residential Water Demand in the Face of Deficient Public Supply and Alternative Private Water Markets

Rapid urban growth processes pose severe challenges to the existing water infrastructure, particularly in developing countries (see Bedtke and Gawel, Chap. 3 in this volume). Responding to these challenges might exceed the scope of a gradual change and require a sustainability-oriented system transformation (Kabisch and Kuhlicke 2014). This chapter examines the prospects for such an urban transformation in Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where the challenges of supplying water to all residents are particularly demanding. Since the year 2000, the population of the greater Amman municipality is estimated to have grown by more than one third (DOS 2014), and this trend can be expected to persist, due to continually high rates of immigration of Syrian refugees. In addition, Jordan is among the most water-scarce countries in the world (Yorke 2013) and is currently overexploiting its renewable groundwater sources by about 65% above the sustainable extraction rate (IRG 2015). Thus, making progress towards a more sustainable use of its freshwater resources is a matter of urgency. The pressing scarcity of water has led Miyahuna, the public water utility of Amman, to introduce a water quantity rationing scheme by which households only receive water for a limited number of hours per week, leading to perceived and actual water quality problems (supply interruptions can, e.g., lead to contaminant infiltration and the development of biofilms; see Hashwa and Tokajian 2004; Yorke 2013; Potter and Darmame 2010). Both the supply intermittency and the quality concerns have forced residents to intensify the use of various coping strategies (e.g., maintaining private storages, ordering private water tankers, purchasing bottled water), which further complicate any targeted steps to initiate a transformation of the public water supply system and water use patterns towards sustainability.