‘Coal plants may double water consumption’

More than 40 per cent of India’s proposed coal plants are in highly stressed water use areas which, if constructed, will double the country’s water consumption to 15.33 billion m3/year, a study by Greenpeace International says. Not only will it add to the deepening water crisis in almost all states in the country, it will take the country’s water consumption in the coal industry to most in the world.

Greenpeace International observed that states like Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal will bear most of the brunt. “From the first ever plant-by-plant study of the coal industry’s current and future water demand, it has come to the fore that some of these areas are extremely vulnerable to drought and yet hundreds of water guzzling coal plants are being proposed in these locations,” said the study, adding, “In some of these areas water demand already exceeds 100 per cent of the available resource and if a go-ahead to 52 GW of thermal power plants proposed in red-list areas and 122 GW in high water stress areas is given, than the water situation in the country may deteriorate even further.”