An official website of the United States government
Abstract As a key ingredient of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), lithium plays a significant role in climate change mitigation, but lithium has considerable impacts on water and society across its life cycle. Upstream extraction methods—including open‐pit mining, brine evaporation, and novel direct lithium extraction (DLE)—and downstream processes present different impacts on both the quantity and quality of water resources, leading to water depletion and contamination. Regarding upstream extraction, it is critical for a comprehensive assessment of lithium's life cycle to include cumulative impacts related not only to freshwater, but also mineralized or saline groundwater, also known as brine. Legal frameworks have obscured social and ecological impacts by treating brine as a mineral rather than water in regulation of lithium extraction through brine evaporation. Analysis of cumulative impacts across the lifespan of lithium reveals not only water impacts in conventional open‐pit mining and brine evaporation, but also significant freshwater needs for DLE technologies, as well as burdens on fenceline communities related to wastewater in processing, chemical contaminants in battery manufacturing, water use for cooling in energy storage, and water quality hazards in recycling. Water analysis in lithium life cycle assessments (LCAs) tends to exclude brine and lack hydrosocial context on the environmental justice implications of water use by life cycle stage. New research directions might benefit from taking a more community‐engaged and cradle‐to‐cradle approach to lithium LCAs, including regionalized impact analysis of freshwater use in DLE, as well as wastewater pollution, cooling water, and recycling hazards from downstream processes. This article is categorized under:Human Water > Human WaterHuman Water > Water GovernanceHuman Water > Water as Imagined and RepresentedScience of Water > Water and Environmental Change
more »
« less
The ecosystem implications of road salt as a pollutant of freshwaters
Abstract Salt pollution is a threat to freshwater ecosystems. Anthropogenic salt inputs increase lake and stream salinity, and consequently change aquatic ecosystem structure and function. Elevated salt concentrations impact species directly not only through osmoregulatory stress, but also through community‐level feedbacks that change the flow of energy and materials through food webs. Here, we discuss the implications of road salt pollution on freshwater rivers and lakes and how “one size fits all” ecotoxicity thresholds may not adequately protect aquatic organisms. This article is categorized under:Science of Water > Water QualityWater and Life > Nature of Freshwater EcosystemsWater and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10386452
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- WIREs Water
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2049-1948
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Environmental DNA (eDNA) has revolutionized ecological research, particularly for biodiversity assessment in various environments, most notably aquatic media. Environmental DNA analysis allows for non‐invasive and rapid species detection across multiple taxonomic groups within a single sample, making it especially useful for identifying rare or invasive species. Due to dynamic hydrological processes, eDNA samples from running waters may represent biodiversity from broad contributing areas, which is convenient from a biomonitoring perspective but also challenging, as hydrological knowledge is required for meaningful biological interpretation. Hydrologists could also benefit from eDNA to address unsolved questions, particularly concerning water movement through catchments. While naturally occurring abiotic tracers have advanced our understanding of water age distribution in catchments, for example, current geochemical tracers cannot fully elucidate the timing and flow paths of water through landscapes. Conversely, biological tracers, owing to their immense diversity and interactions with the environment, could offer more detailed information on the sources and flow paths of water to the stream. The informational capacity of eDNA as a tracer, however, is determined by the ability to interpret the complex biological heterogeneity at a study site, which arguably requires both biological and hydrological expertise. As eDNA data has become increasingly available as part of biomonitoring campaigns, we argue that accompanying eDNA surveys with hydrological observations could enhance our understanding of both biological and hydrological processes; we identify opportunities, challenges, and needs for further interdisciplinary collaboration; and we highlight eDNA's potential as a bridge between hydrology and biology, which could foster both domains. This article is categorized under:Science of Water > Hydrological ProcessesScience of Water > MethodsWater and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystemsmore » « less
-
Abstract During winter, snow and ice on roads in regions with cold weather can increase traffic crashes and casualties, resulting in travel delays and financial burdens to society. Anti‐icing or deicing the roads can serve a cost‐effective method to significantly reduce such risks. Although traditionally the main priorities of winter road maintenance (WRM) have been level of service, cost‐effectiveness, and corrosion reduction, it is increasingly clear that understanding the environmental impacts of deicers is vital. One of the most important problems in this regard is environmental contamination caused by cumulative use of deicers, which has many detrimental effects on the aquatic systems. Among the deicers, the chloride‐based ones raise the most toxicological concerns because they are highly soluble, can migrate quickly in the environment and have cumulative effects over time. In this review, we summarize and organize existing data, including the latest findings about the adverse effects of deicers on surface water and groundwater, aquatic species, and human health, and identify future research priorities. In addition, the data provided can be used to develop a framework for quantifying some of the variables that stakeholders and agencies use when preparing guidelines and standards for WRM programs. Practitioner pointsPollution from the increasing use of roadway deicers may have detrimental effects on the environment.Of particular concern are the acute and cumulative risks that chloride salts pose to aquatic species.Chloride salts are water‐soluble, very difficult to remove, highly mobile, and non‐degradable.Deicers cause water stratification, change the chemicophysical properties of water, and affect aquatic species and human health.Current guidelines may not be appropriate for environmental protection and need to be revised.more » « less
-
Abstract Alongside global climate change, many freshwater ecosystems are experiencing substantial shifts in the concentrations and compositions of salt ions coming from both land and sea. We synthesize a risk framework for anticipating how climate change and increasing salt pollution coming from both land and saltwater intrusion will trigger chain reactions extending from headwaters to tidal waters. Salt ions trigger ‘chain reactions,’ where chemical products from one biogeochemical reaction influence subsequent reactions and ecosystem responses. Different chain reactions impact drinking water quality, ecosystems, infrastructure, and energy and food production. Risk factors for chain reactions include shifts in salinity sources due to global climate change and amplification of salinity pulses due to the interaction of precipitation variability and human activities. Depending on climate and other factors, salt retention can range from 2 to 90% across watersheds globally. Salt retained in ecosystems interacts with many global biogeochemical cycles along flowpaths and contributes to ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ chain reactions associated with temporary acidification and long-term alkalinization of freshwaters, impacts on nutrient cycling, CO2, CH4, N2O, and greenhouse gases, corrosion, fouling, and scaling of infrastructure, deoxygenation, and contaminant mobilization along the freshwater-marine continuum. Salt also impacts the carbon cycle and the quantity and quality of organic matter transported from headwaters to coasts. We identify the double impact of salt pollution from land and saltwater intrusion on a wide range of ecosystem services. Our salinization risk framework is based on analyses of: (1) increasing temporal trends in salinization of tributaries and tidal freshwaters of the Chesapeake Bay and freshening of the Chesapeake Bay mainstem over 40 years due to changes in streamflow, sea level rise, and watershed salt pollution; (2) increasing long-term trends in concentrations and loads of major ions in rivers along the Eastern U.S. and increased riverine exports of major ions to coastal waters sometimes over 100-fold greater than forest reference conditions; (3) varying salt ion concentration-discharge relationships at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sites across the U.S.; (4) empirical relationships between specific conductance and Na+, Cl−, SO42−, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, and N at USGS sites across the U.S.; (5) changes in relationships between concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and different salt ions at USGS sites across the U.S.; and (6) original salinization experiments demonstrating changes in organic matter composition, mobilization of nutrients and metals, acidification and alkalinization, changes in oxidation–reduction potentials, and deoxygenation in non-tidal and tidal waters. The interaction of human activities and climate change is altering sources, transport, storage, and reactivity of salt ions and chain reactions along the entire freshwater-marine continuum. Our salinization risk framework helps anticipate, prevent, and manage the growing double impact of salt ions from both land and sea on drinking water, human health, ecosystems, aquatic life, infrastructure, agriculture, and energy production.more » « less
-
Abstract River managers strive to use the best available science to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem function. To achieve this goal requires consideration of processes at different scales. Metacommunity theory describes how multiple species from different communities potentially interact with local‐scale environmental drivers to influence population dynamics and community structure. However, this body of knowledge has only rarely been used to inform management practices for river ecosystems. In this article, we present a conceptual model outlining how the metacommunity processes of local niche sorting and dispersal can influence the outcomes of management interventions and provide a series of specific recommendations for applying these ideas as well as research needs. In all cases, we identify situations where traditional approaches to riverine management could be enhanced by incorporating an understanding of metacommunity dynamics. A common theme is developing guidelines for assessing the metacommunity context of a site or region, evaluating how that context may affect the desired outcome, and incorporating that understanding into the planning process and methods used. To maximize the effectiveness of management activities, scientists, and resource managers should update the toolbox of approaches to riverine management to reflect theoretical advances in metacommunity ecology. This article is categorized under:Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater EcosystemsWater and Life > Conservation, Management, and AwarenessWater and Life > Methodsmore » « less
