In the summer of 2024, the Spanish region of Catalonia declared a state of emergency over what officials called its worst drought on record. Hundreds of kilometres to the south, water-use restrictions were being enforced across Andalucía. Yet both regions are home to mines that the European Commission has placed on a fast track for development — projects it considers essential to the continent's industrial future. The collision between resource ambition and water scarcity is the central finding of a mapping exercise by Watershed Investigations, which shared its analysis with the Guardian.

Using NASA satellite data collected over the past two decades, researchers found that more than half of the 33 mines designated as "strategic projects" under the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act are located in areas that have been measurably drying. Nearly a quarter sit in regions formally classified as water-stressed, and almost half experienced drought conditions in just the past three months, according to EU monitoring data. Six of those strategic mines are planned for highly water-stressed zones in Spain alone; others are in Portugal and Greece, three countries that already rank among the EU's ten worst-affected nations for water scarcity, according to the European Environment Agency. The pressure on water supplies comes at a moment when global demand for critical minerals — lithium, cobalt, graphite and others vital to electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and artificial intelligence infrastructure — has tripled since 2010 and is projected to more than double again by 2030.

Mining is inherently water-intensive: large volumes are needed for ore processing, dust suppression and waste management, and even operations that recycle water still draw significantly from local aquifers and rivers.