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The Ongi River ( mn, Онги гол, zh, 翁金河, 翁金高勒) flows from the southeastern slopes of the Khangai Mountains in
National Geographic News
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The Ongi River ( mn, Онги гол, zh, 翁金河, 翁金高勒) flows from the southeastern slopes of the Khangai Mountains in Övörkhangai Province
Övörkhangai ( mn, Өвөрхангай, ''Öwörhangai''; "southern Khangai") is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the south of the country. Its capital is Arvaikheer.
The Shankh Monastery, one of the oldest and most i ...
for through the endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
Ongi River Basin in Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and through the aimag capital Arvaikheer. In some particularly wet years, it used to empty into Ulaan Lake in north central Ömnögovi Province
Ömnögovi ( mn, Өмнөговь ''Ömnögovǐ'', ''South Gobi'') is an aimag (province) of Mongolia, located in the south of the country, in the Gobi Desert. Ömnögovi is Mongolia's largest aimag. The capital is Dalanzadgad.
The province is ...
, in most years it dries up earlier. In recent years it has been additionally threatened by 37 mining operations within the basin, but successful pressure by Tsetsgeegiin Mönkhbayar and the Ongi River Basin Movement helped convince 35 of the operations to cease explorations and harmful activities in the region. The water and groundwater in this area may be contaminated with mercury and cyanide
Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms.
In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...
from the mining industry.Lovgren S. 2008. ‘Mongolia gold rush destroying rivers, nomadic lives. National Geographic News’. Accessed Nov 4th 2008 aNational Geographic News
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See also
*List of rivers of Mongolia
This is a list of notable rivers of Mongolia, arranged geographically by river basin.
The Mongolian words for river are ''gol'' (') and ''mörön'' ('), with the latter usually used for larger rivers. The Mongolian names also occasionally have ...
References
Rivers of Mongolia {{Mongolia-river-stub