Mine Water Management: Case Studies from Mongolia and Chile

The report outlines a holistic approach to watershed-level water management, emphasizing the need for risk-based planning, stakeholder engagement, and clear legal frameworks. It presents case studies from Mongolia, which utilizes a system of management zones based on water sources, and Antofagasta, Chile, which employs strategic regional planning and technical cost-benefit analyses. Both jurisdictions highlight the challenges of managing water in arid environments where mining competes with community and agricultural needs, particularly under the pressures of climate change.

• Effective watershed management requires a risk-based approach that incorporates climate change scenarios and sensitivity analyses to address biophysical, socio-economic, and regulatory risks.
• Mongolia's 2013 Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) categorizes the country into three management zones based on water type: surface water, surface and groundwater, and groundwater-dominated areas.
• In Mongolia's Gobi Desert, groundwater is considered non-renewable fossil water, and mining demand was predicted to exceed supply in 2021.
• Mongolia is implementing a digital water platform that integrates monitoring data with machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve predictive modelling for water allocation.
• In Antofagasta, Chile, mining accounts for 60% of the water demand within the Loa River watershed, necessitating a balance with the rights of Indigenous communities and agricultural needs.
• A significant governance challenge in Chile is that water was historically allocated as rights with no expiry date rather than as licenses.
• Chile's 'Plan Chile 30/30' initiative, based on consultations with over 10,000 participants, aims to improve water security and minimize risks from natural disasters and climate change by 2030.

APA

Hill, J., & Gillman, M. (2021). Mine Water Management: Case Studies from Mongolia and Chile. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-12/igf-case-study-mine-water-management-chile-mongolia.pdf

Chicago

Hill, Jenifer, and Matthew Gillman. Mine Water Management: Case Studies from Mongolia and Chile. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-12/igf-case-study-mine-water-management-chile-mongolia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hill |first1=Jenifer |last2=Gillman |first2=Matthew |title=Mine Water Management: Case Studies from Mongolia and Chile |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-12/igf-case-study-mine-water-management-chile-mongolia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hill2021mine, author = {Hill, Jenifer and Gillman, Matthew}, title = {{Mine Water Management: Case Studies from Mongolia and Chile}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-12/igf-case-study-mine-water-management-chile-mongolia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }