Assessment of regional water demand for coal-based power plants in India: exploring its regional impact on other cross-sectoral water stress.

Water use in coal power generation is one of the key points to highlight for the countries like India because country electricity demand increases rapidly which led to increase in water demand. The coal power sector in India will remain to be the dominant source of electricity generation until 2040 and will require a regular water supply, which is already in a stressful condition. This work focuses on the regional assessment of water withdrawal and consumption of the coal power sector at three broad stages includes fuel extraction, fuel preparation, and power generation. Our analysis reveals that 99% of the total water supply to the sector was withdrawn by power plants. Further, the study assessed its trade-off with other sectoral water demand adopting WSI (Water Stress Index) criteria for both surface and groundwater sources. The results highlighted the per capita groundwater to be under severe stress and similar status was also identified in the case of fresh surface water except for the Central region. The overall WSI status was found to be severe in all regions of India. This situation creates a water-scarce situation for water-guzzling power plants that are dependent on surface water and faces the competitive situation with the agriculture and domestic sector. Results of the study concluded that the technological up-gradation at the power plants could be helpful to reduce the total water demand by 78% of coal power sector which can be reduced the severity of regional water stress. Our study aids policymakers to identify the region which is more vulnerable in terms of cross-sectoral water demand and also fulfills the need for quality data availability at a regional scale that may use in the future towards sustainable water-resources management practices.