Lithium production and prices have skyrocketed amid an EV boom, as have the expectations of poverty-stricken communities near lithium plants. But there are growing concerns about the impact on groundwater sources in regions already prone to extended droughts, with recent evidence of tree and flamingo die-offs
Veronica Chavez, president of the indigenous Kolla Santuario de Tres Pozos community in the northern province of Jujuy, Argentina at the Salinas Grandes salt flat, on October 18, 2022. The turquoise glimmer of open-air pools meets the dazzling white of a seemingly endless salt desert where hope and disillusionment collide in Latin America's "lithium triangle." Image: Aizar RALDES / AFP