Research conducted by Arizona State University students indicates that companies engaged in mining, especially in canyons like the Colorado River, plan to extract lithium by drawing water from already dry water sources.
In most canyons, located in the western region, the need for billions of gallons of water for mining will arise when the area is experiencing the worst drought in its 1200-year history.
The Silver Peak mine in the state of Nevada has discharged more than four billion gallons of water from the lithium mine since 2020. According to scientists' estimates, underground water reserves are nearing depletion. Another discovery related to a mine on the eastern coast of North Carolina suggests that residential wells in the area could dry up due to mining.
However, companies are free to use water for mining, as there were no limits set in the federal law on mining, established sometime after the Civil War.
Notably, there are approximately 80 million metric tons of lithium reserves in American land, meaning the American industry holds assets worth $232 billion. However, the U.S. only contributes one percent to the global lithium production.