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Much of South Dakota’s drinking water has more naturally occurring lithium in it than the federal government preliminarily advises as a healthy level, according to numbers in a recent study released by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Lead study author Melissa Lombard hopes the data contributes to further research.
“Lithium is becoming recognized as potentially having impacts to human health,” Lombard told South Dakota Searchlight. “But first we need to identify the amount people are being exposed to through drinking water and study how different concentration levels may impact them. This is a first step in the process, and this will inform public health studies.”
The Environmental Protection Agency does not currently regulate lithium but is gathering information for potential future regulations. Meanwhile, the agency has established a “health reference level” indicating that concentrations above 10 micrograms per liter may be unhealthy. The agency stresses that health reference levels “are not final determinations” and that the science on lithium’s health effects is “still evolving.”