Mongolia is a continental country, which is situated on the three biggest watersheds. The country's water resource is dependent mostly on river flows from outside the country. Mongolia has comparatively high levels of surface and ground water resources. The rivers of Mongolia belong to the inland catchments basins of the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and Central Asia Inland Basin. The higher and middle Selenge, the biggest river in the country and parts of the Yenissei river belong to the Arctic Ocean drainage basin. In the northern and western mountainous parts of Mongolia, the water network is of high density. The southern, central and south-eastern parts of the country have a few rivers and other water resources and they are usually situated in depressions without any outflows.
Mongolia has 3811 rivers and streams with a total length of 67,000 km, over 3000 big and small lakes with a total volume of 500 cubic kilometres, about 6900 springs with steady flows, over 190 glaciers with a total size of about 540 square kilometres and over 250 mineral water springs, which are from specific water ecosystems. But it was evident from the results of a water census conducted by the Ministry of Nature and Environment how much Mongolia's water reserves have decreased. 683 rivers, 1484 ponds and springs, and 760 lakes have dried up over the last five years. This was not only due to human factors, but also to the loss of natural ecosystems. Under these circumstances the Government decided to declare 2004 the Year for Water Policy Innovation.
