VOA慢速英语--Demand for Lithium Creates ‘Water War’ in Chile

 

Parts of Chile are facing a growing water crisis¹.

The Reuters news agency reports the government is taking steps to protect the country’s water supplies from mining operations. But for many years, the Chilean government approved water extraction rights with little consideration for their effect on the environment.

Mining companies were quick to claim the water available in the salt flats of the Salar de Atacama. The Salar sits in the world’s driest desert. The water trapped below feeds the biggest copper³ mine in the world.

The mine holds more than one-third of the world’s known supply of lithium, a very light metal. Lithium is used to power batteries in electric vehicles. It also is used in mobile phones and laptop computers.

Lithium can be extracted⁴ from water found in mines. However, demand for water has grown so much that the Chilean government is trying to limit its usage⁵. No one really knows how much water there is in the Salar de Atcama area.

Oscar Cristi was recently appointed head of Chile’s water authority. He says the development agency Corfo hopes to provide more information after it releases a study in December. Corfo helps to oversee⁶ lithium mining in the Salar.

A war for water

The government, Cristi said, has been unwilling⁷ to propose bans on water extraction. The mining industry is paying attention to what he says. A few weeks ago, his agency ordered a ban on new permits to extract² water from an aquifer⁸ that supplies water to BHP’s Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper mine.

The agency is also preparing to create a drinking water reserve near the operations of top lithium producers SQM and Albemarle. The move would enable the government to further limit water use there.

SQM and Albemarle say they have all the water rights they need and do not expect new limits to affect their current or future production of lithium.

International demand for lithium is growing. Chile is home to nearly 50 percent of the world’s reserves of the metal.

However, there is plenty of competition for the water needed to mine lithium. Native groups, SQM and Albemarle, local copper miners and newcomers to the area are all competing for water.

Recently, SQM and Albemarle both signed deals with the government to sharply⁹ increase the amount of lithium they can remove from the Salar. The two businesses say they will not use any more water than the amount already approved. New companies like Wealth Minerals, New Energy Metals, and Lithium Chile have also announced projects in the salt flats.

Little information available

On a computer, Christi shows line after line of the water rights approved many years ago in the southernmost part of the Salar. When added up, they represent water supplies six times greater than the government now believes is available.

Past governments did not correctly map how much water is available, says Cristi. Now, observation wells are being built in some areas.

“Our (understanding) continues to be limited now, but back then, it was very limited,” he said.

The combined effect of water rights approved over the years to copper and lithium miners in the world’s driest desert has never been considered, notes Ingrid Garces.

Garces studies salt flats and serves as a professor at Chile’s University of Antofagasta.

“We’re managing lithium as though it were a type of hard-rock mining,” she said. “But we’re mining water, not rock. This is a watershed¹⁰.”

Take too much water from one place, she said, and it may affect another.

Another problem affecting water extraction in Chile is who should deal with legal questions.

The brine from which miners extract lithium is water. In Chile, brine is considered a mineral like copper. Environmental officials act on requests for permits of brine, but the water authority manages freshwater pumping.

A lack of communication between the two authorities, combined with a lack of understanding the relationship of the two substances, has made it difficult for authorities to act, says Cristi.

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

aquifer - n. a layer of rock or sand that can absorb and hold water?

authority - n. a government organization that has control of a specified¹¹ activity or area?

brine - n. the salty water of the ocean?

extract - v. to remove (something) by pulling it out or cutting it out?

mobile - adj. able to be moved?

reserve - n. an area of land where animals and plants are given special protection?

watershed - n. a line of hills or mountains from which rivers drain

1 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

2 extract   

vt.取出，提取，获得，摘录；n.摘录，提出物

参考例句：

• The article was a choice extract from her writings.这篇文章是从她的著作中摘录出来的精粹。
• We can extract oil from olive.我们可以从橄榄中榨油。

3 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

4 extracted   

adj. 萃取的 动词extract的现在分词

参考例句：

• Maple syrup is made from sap extracted from the sugar maple tree. 槭糖浆是用糖槭树中提取的树液制成的。
• The dentist extracted her wisdom tooth. 牙医拔掉了她的智牙。

5 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

6 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

7 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

8 aquifer   

n.含水土层

参考例句：

• An aquifer is a water-bearing rock stratum such as sandstone and chalk.地下蓄水层是一些有水的岩石层，如沙岩和白垩岩。
• The wine region's first water came from an ancient aquifer.用来灌溉这个地区葡萄园的第一批水来自古老的地下蓄水层。

9 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

10 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

11 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。