Zambia’s Rivers Poisoned as Copper Mine Works to Meet Global Demand

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In the month of February of this year, 2025 people in Zambia faced a very horrible event. One river which was near a copper mine became full of poison. The river water turned dirty and unsafe to use. It was so bad the fish died. Infact, some of the locals who drank the water became sick. The worst part is that some families lost their only source of clean water and that made access to safe water very difficult for them.

This happened because of a toxic spill from that copper mine. Zambia is known to be one of the top copper producers in the world. I know most will know exactly what copper is but for those who don't, it's that reddish brown metal we see in wires, phones, computers and electric cars so you could imagine how much of it is in demand.

The demand has gone higher because the world is producing more and more technology. So this huge demand has pushed the mines in Zambia to produce more than nature can safely take.

It may look like progress because there's technological advancements and there's higher demand for a natural resource, meaning more profits but look at the negative effect of this. The price for this productivity is being paid by ordinary Zambians and by our environment.

The news reports said that toxic waste from a copper mine spilled into the rivers and streams. The water that local families depend on for cooking, washing and drinking got polluted. Like I made mention in my previous article, this doesn't only affect us people, even the animals suffer. They saw fish floating dead on the surface of the waters. Farmers also saw their crops weaken because they used the poisoned water on their land.

The locals became very much troubled by this, some were even afraid not just for what was happening but the long term health effects like cancer, organ problems or skin disease breakout. Some parents were worried for their children, worried that their kids may have to grow up without safe water since this copper mining business will not stop.

The problem is that for many Zambians, water is already hard to get so this spill made life worse. This is not an accident of nature or some natural disaster, this was the result of global hunger for copper.

Let's ask the obvious question, why does Zambia mine so much copper? Because people all over the world want more electronics, more cars and more energy solutions. It's a difficult thing to wrap your mind around because technology is necessary, however the problem stems not from our technological progress but the consumer culture of the technology.

Copper is a key part of all these gadgets we use. The new green economy uses copper for electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines. So even with the focus on green energy, copper will still be in demand.

Green energy is good for the planet and for environmental sustainability but regardless of what methods we use, if our consumer culture doesn't change towards a direction where we manage our products in a way that reduces the numbers we produce, we will solve problems and create worse ones.

When countries all over the world, and by that I mean the tech industries in those countries, demand more copper than Zambia or other similar nations can safely mine, companies push the mines to work faster and harder. A lot of safety steps are ignored because of the opportunity of mass production and profits.

That also means, waste systems break down. Toxic chemicals leak into rivers and at the end of it, it is the locals like these Zambian people, who suffer. Even the major tech consumers in all parts of the world, Europe, Asia, America and Africa will suffer the negative effect of this consumer culture.

I can't blame consumers too much because some are unaware of what's going on in the background, everytime they demand and purchase a new phone every year or a new laptop or a new electric car. They may not be thinking about stories like this happening in Zambia.

So do we stop using the technology? No we can't. Infact I used a device to write this article, and you can bet your bottom dollar that we've got copper in it, maybe it might have been copper from this exact place.

However I've been using this device for about 2 years without having to change it and it worked just fine. Not because I lack the funds to get a new one but because getting a new one every single year or for some people, in few months, leads to problems like this one and a bit unnecessary since it does everything I need it to do.

Most people may not know that their demand is part of this tragedy. But this is how overconsumption works. One person’s endless buying creates another person’s endless suffering.

The rivers of Zambia are now poisoned. Life in the water is gone. Birds and animals that depend on fish are also affected. The soil is less healthy. The land loses its balance. That's the effect of more and more demand.

If we want to set things right, we need to create a business model and a society and consumer culture that'll allow nature to clean itself or recover as fast as we do things to destroy it. Because I'll admit we do need some of these technologies but not at the rate at which it's being produced.

Once the river is poisoned, it may take many years before it becomes safe again. That is if they stop the spill.

If people reduce their need for new things every year, if companies recycle copper instead of always digging for more and if governments protect rivers with better policies, such disasters can be stopped.

Screenshot of the state of the poisoned water body from this site sharing the same story too