More than half of the 33 planned new or expanded mines designated as strategic projects under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act are located in areas that have been drying over the past two decades, according to analysis by Watershed Investigations using NASA satellite data — a finding that has alarmed environmental groups as the European Commission prepares to revise the bloc’s flagship water protection law to speed up mining permitting.
Nearly half of the strategic mines are in zones that experienced drought conditions in the past three months according to EU data, and a quarter are in regions deemed water-stressed. Six of the strategic mines are planned for highly water-stressed areas in Spain, with others in Portugal and Greece — countries that rank among the top ten EU nations with the worst water scarcity according to the European Environment Agency. In 2024, Catalonia declared a state of emergency over its worst-ever drought and water-use restrictions were imposed in Andalucía. In 2022, 96% of Portugal was experiencing extreme or severe drought conditions.
The European Commission is preparing to revise the Water Framework Directive — the EU’s key law protecting rivers, groundwater and wetlands — with the stated aim of removing permitting bottlenecks and improving access to strategic minerals. Mining industry trade association Euromines has been pushing for these changes, including longer deadlines for countries to meet water quality targets, amendments to how the WFD’s no-deterioration rule is applied, and greater legal certainty for industrial projects. The association insisted the proposed changes are “not a licence to pollute” and maintained that its priority remains strong environmental safeguards alongside legal clarity.
Environmental groups dispute that framing. Sara Johansson of the European Environmental Bureau said the mining industry had “not presented a shred of evidence” that the WFD was creating bottlenecks for mining projects, and described the planned revision as reckless. Professor Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, warned that weakening water protections in drought-prone regions was “a form of Russian roulette” that could produce long-lasting or irreversible damage to rivers, aquifers and ecosystems. “Fast-tracking mining in water-stressed regions by weakening safeguards is a form of Russian roulette,” he said. “History may judge it as recklessness tomorrow.”
The European Commission defended the strategic project selection, saying mines were assessed by independent experts and must comply with EU environmental law, with environmental and water impact assessments carried out by national authorities. Several mining companies contacted by the Guardian disputed suggestions their projects would place undue pressure on water resources, pointing to closed-loop recycling systems, monitoring programmes and regulatory oversight.
The tension reflects a broader structural conflict within EU critical minerals policy: the same regions with the richest mineral endowments for the energy transition — Spain, Portugal, Greece — are among the most acutely water-stressed, and the mining processes needed to extract those minerals are among the most water-intensive in industry.
