Lithium extraction from continental brines involves the evaporation of large amounts of water in open air ponds, to concentrate the brine(Baspineiro et al., 2020).
Lithium extraction from brine deposits has significant impacts on water resources, particularly in arid regions such as the “Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia.
Lithium is a strange element. It’s the lightest of the metals, but it doesn’t like to be in a solid form. Lithium tends to occur in layers of volcanic ash, but it reacts quickly with water (The Amount of Fresh Water Available for Lithium Mining Is Vastly Overestimated, Hydrologists Warn, 2025).
Each tonne of lithium requires around two (02) million litres of water to be evaporated, resulting in enormous quantities of water being lost every year and putting underground freshwater reserves in danger of salinization by getting in contact with brine. The consequences of this “water mega-mining” are demonstrated by a fall in the water table, the salinization of freshwater and a reduction in underground water available. This results in the drying up of surface water bodies and the damage to wetland ecosystems, with direct impacts on biodiversity and climate, as vast quantities of securely stored carbon are released into the atmosphere as CO2 and reduces their resilience – making local communities and Andean countries more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change(World Water Day, 2023).
Lithium extraction from brine: essential for batteries, but what’s the real impact on our water resources? Comment below!
Reference:
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Baspineiro, C. F., Franco, J., & Flexer, V. (2020). Potential water recovery during lithium mining from high salinity brines. The Science of the Total Environment, 720, 137523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137523
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The amount of fresh water available for lithium mining is vastly overestimated, hydrologists warn. (2025, March 26). https://phys.org/news/2025-03-amount-fresh-lithium-vastly-overestimated.html
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World Water Day: The water impacts of lithium extraction. (2023, March 22). Wetlands International Europe. https://europe.wetlands.org/blog/world-water-day-the-water-impacts-of-lithium-extraction/
