Coal power plants least water-efficient

Even six years after the water consumption norms came into force, the water-guzzling coal power industry is ignoring water regulations and there is a high degree of non-compliance observed in the sector, a new report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says.

Counted among the most water-intensive industries in India, the coal power sector is responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the total freshwater withdrawal by all industries in the country. Indian power plants with cooling towers consume twice as much water as their global counterparts, said the report titled 'Water Inefficient Power'. According to the 2015 norms (revised again in 2018), plants installed before January 1, 2017, were required to meet a specific water consumption limit of 3.5 cubic metre of water per MWh; plants installed after January 1, 2017 had to meet the norm of three cubic metre of water per MWh, apart from adopting zero liquid discharge.

Additionally, all freshwater-based plants were required to install cooling towers and subsequently achieve the norm of 3.5 cubic metre of water per MWh. All sea water-based plants were exempted from meeting the norms. The deadline to meet the water norms was December 2017 which has already passed. The water norms for coal power plants were introduced in 2015 along with the emission norms. Though emission norms timelines for the sector were revised twice by the Ministry of Coal once in 2017 and recently in 2021, the issue of compliance and implementation of water norms has been completely overlooked, the CSE said in a release.

As per the CSE's recent estimates, nearly 48 per cent of India's existing coal power fleet is located in water-scarce districts like Nagpur and Chandrapur in Maharashtra; Raichur in Karnataka; Korba in Chhattisgarh; Barmer and Baran in Rajasthan; Khammam and Kothagudem in Telangana; and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. There have been reports of conflicts over water use between industries and local people.

There is huge scope of reducing the sector's water demand by ensuring implementation of the 2015 standards and addressing the challenges related to accurate reporting of data, old inefficient once-through cooling plants and implementing zero discharge in newer plants.