Assessment of Land Use effects on Tuul River surface water Quantity and Quality

Abstract

The Tuul river basin is a unique region in that it covers only 3.2% of Mongolian territory, but 48% of Mongolian total population lives in Ulaanbaatar. Also, 66.5% of the Mongolian total GDP was produced within this river basin in 2020. Land-use changes due to the expansion of urbanization can pose a threat to downstream ecosystems of the Tuul river, particularly soil and water quality, leading to an increase in surface runoff and nutrient loads.