Water shortage threatens the world’s most abundant lithium reserves
Freshwater essential to lithium mining is running low in the world’s “Lithium Triangle,” a mineral-rich region in the Andean Plateau that stretches across parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile and contains more than half of all global lithium reserves.
Freshwater essential to lithium mining is running low in the world’s “Lithium Triangle,” a mineral-rich region in the Andean Plateau that stretches across parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile and contains more than half of all global lithium reserves.
In a study published last week in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, researchers found that the amount of freshwater locally available for lithium extraction is about 10 times lower than previous estimates. Global lithium demand, which is expected to grow by 40 times by 2040, could outpace the limited annual rain that supplies freshwater to the arid Lithium Triangle.
The paper’s authors urged the lithium industry to reduce their freshwater usage and avoid disrupting mining operations, which rely heavily on freshwater availability, consuming up to 500,000 gallons of water to extract one ton of lithium. In the Lithium Triangle, freshwater also supports agriculture for small, Indigenous communities and sustains wetlands that are home to short-tailed chinchillas, wild camelids and pink flamingo species found nowhere else in the world.
“Water is the most important resource in these systems, and it’s the part of the system that is most sensitive to change,” David Boutt, an author of the paper and a professor of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, said. “I’m optimistic that, through research and development, companies can be more water efficient, especially when driven by the market.”
While water drives life and industry in the Triangle, lithium is critical to the global regulatory push for electrification and the growth of clean technology industries. The mineral is an essential component for batteries that power electric vehicles and store energy generated by renewable sources like solar panels and windmills.
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