The Tuul River flows through the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia and serves many purposes including drinking water, cooling for electricity production, irrigation, wastewater reception and tourism. The question for the Government of Mongolia was whether it was economically efficient to recycle wastewater to reduce demand for fresh river water. The work involved completing an economic benefit/costs analysis of using recycled wastewater for power plant cooling. Analysis included full lifecycle cost of operating wastewater recycling for 20 years, long-run marginal cost per cubic meter of wastewater recycling investment, current cost to power plants for using fresh groundwater, and a Total Benefits Analysis of the economic benefits gained to public sector, private households, employers, and individuals in terms of economic efficiency, increased productivity, saving in costs of production, public health, and improved economic livelihoods in a wide range of employment sectors. Crane Associates was hired as a sub-consultant to Tetra Tech whose client was the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Mongolia.
