Royal HaskoningDHV, a global consulting engineering company, has reported that the lithium levels in the river Rhine near Lobith, in the Dutch province of Gelderland, are already higher than the risk limit. Users of Rhine and Meuse water may now or in the future suffer from higher lithium levels.

The lithium concentrations in river water are expected to rise in the coming years because lithium extraction in the southern German Rhine basin will be combined with geothermal energy. Lithium extraction results in wastewater discharges that end up in the Rhine.

Dependence on China

Germany is diving into lithium now that the country appears to have more reserves than thought. The country wants to be less dependent on China, which distributes 80% of the processed lithium to the rest of the world. Germany will extract lithium itself for batteries in electric cars. The European Union warned the member states about too much dependence on China.

According to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), significant quantities of the battery raw material are hidden underground in the Upper Rhine, the excavated river that flows from Bingen in Germany along the French border to Basel. The German subsoil contains enough lithium to supply one million electric cars with batteries every year.

Health effects

In 2020, the Association of River Water Companies (Vereniging van Rivierwaterbedrijven, Riwa) first drew attention to the lithium problem in river water. There is concern about the health effects of exposure to lithium through drinking water.

Lithium is considered a ‘potentially dangerous drug’ due to a high risk of neurological disorders, thyroid abnormalities, skin problems, and cardiac arrhythmias. The product is only prescribed in modest salt doses in psychiatric medicine.

What is lithium?

Lithium is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable and must be stored in a vacuum, inert atmosphere, or inert liquid such as purified kerosene or mineral oil.

There is not yet an environmental standard for lithium. The substance is also not included in the national emissions registration. As long as there is no formal standard, there is a lack of measurement data.

Industrial applications

Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel, and aluminum production, lithium metal batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. But nowadays, German automakers, such as BMW and Volkswagen, mainly claim lithium.

However, Lithium extraction is not without risks for the environment. The mining of lithium is known to be harmful. All kinds of substances are released, such as tar and mercury, which are poisonous. Hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid are used in processing, all of which end up in the air, soil, and water. And although lithium is not as toxic as cadmium (remember the cadmium pollution of the Rhine in the 70s?), we have a good reason to keep it out of our environment and the Rhine River.