last year, Elon musk laughed off concerns that Tesla's
first european factory here in Gotham hyder would deplete the
area's water supply. It turns out the issue is
pretty serious. I'm in the small town of near
Berlin and behind me is Tesla's first european factory is
designed to churn out as many as half a million
cars. Once authorities allowed to open in late august
, a reporter asked right here at his factory will
deplete the area's water supply. He broke out in
laughter and called the concerns ridiculous. But scientists warn
that the factory will indeed strain water reserves in the
region that is already among Germany's prize because of climate
change. The water table here has been declining for
the past three decades and droughts in each of the
past four years have led to wildfires and crop failures
. To environmental groups have now suit the local environment
authority over the€5 billion project, saying it threatens
local residents, groundwater access groups argue authorities failed to
take into account climate change, when approving a 30
year permit to pump more groundwater for the factory case
, which goes to court in March, has the
potential to delay or even stop the project in what
could be a costly setback to Tesla's expansion. Authorities
say most of the local population backs the plant and
that it can manage the water supply issue and it's
already drilling for more supplies. Tesla argues it uses
less of the resource than other carmakers and it's already
implementing new designs here in flint hider that will further
reduce usage. Still, the issue likely won't go
away anytime soon. Some locals are complaining that Tesla
is getting preferential treatment, even though it's factory would
make an already serious environmental issue worse, this is
how we move. I'm Stefan Nicola, for more
in the future of transportation. Follow us on your
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