Abstract
Abstract Uncontrolled mine site leakage poses massive indirect environmental pollution, particularly when harmful substances, like arsenic, infiltrate water bodies, affecting humans. Arsenic contamination, recognized as a severe environmental catastrophe, exemplifies the water quality footprint from a Moroccan cobalt mine supplying electric car construction. Applying the water quality footprint method, we determined that 30 to 610 m3 of virtual dilution water per electric car would be needed to reduce arsenic pollution below natural background levels. This single mine's water quality footprint constitutes up to 0.3 % of Morocco's annual water availability, concerning all electric cars produced annually with cobalt from this mine, and corresponds to the full annual capacity of one seawater desalination plant. This underscores the risk of problem shifting with climate-friendly technologies, prompts reflection on due diligence in supply chains under German and upcoming European legislation and highlights the shared responsibility of industry, society and politics.
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