The now-highly polluted Salton Sea, in California, could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” experts say due to its high concentration of the metal. The lake was formed in 1905, as floodwaters spilled from the Colorado River into an irrigation canal that made its way to the Salton Sink, a large natural basin.
The accidental swimming hole became a tourist destination in the years that followed, but the air there is now poisonous. And the water is exceptionally foul because chemicals from farms settled into the salt bed and got into the water, with desert winds making the situation much worse.
Study looks at lithium in California’s Salton Sea
A group of scientists from the University of California, Riverside, and Geologica Geothermal Group is now researching a massive geothermal reservoir around and beneath the lake.
Hot, salty water known as “geothermal brine” lies in the reservoir, which is pumped from thousands of feet below the ground. In this process, it is converted to a gas that turns a turbine, which generates massive amounts of electricity.
As an added benefit, the pumping process also brings up lithium, which can be used in batteries for electric cars. For many years, after the liquid cooled, it was pumped back into the ground, but scientists are now taking a long look at extracting the lithium first.