India’s coal power sector and water norms

The story: The CSE surveyed 154 GW coal power capacity and found about half of freshwater-based power plants were non-complying with 2015 water norms;

India’s coal power sector and water norms

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• The story: The CSE surveyed 154 GW coal power capacity and found about half of freshwater-based power plants were non-complying with 2015 water norms; most of them belonged to state-owned companies. [CSE - Centre for Science and Environment]
• The report: The survey results came in a report titled "Water Inefficient Power" and flag the severe non-compliance by coal power plants to these legally binding units of water consumption. Six years after the water consumption norms came in, there is high non-compliance observed in the sector, which continues to withdraw enormous amounts of water.
• Water norms: According to the 2015 norms (revised 2018), plants installed before January 1, 2017 were to meet a specific water consumption limit of 3.5 cubic metres / MWh of water; plants installed after January 1, 2017 had to meet the norms of 3 cubic metres of water per MWh of water along-with adopting zero liquid discharge. All freshwater-based plants were to install cooling towers and achieve the norm of 3.5 cubic metres of water per MWh. All sea water-based plants were exempted from meeting the norms.
• Deadline ignored: The water consumption norms for coal power plants were introduced in 2015 alongwith emission norms. The coal power plants were supposed to meet the water norms by December 2017. Though timelines for emission norms for the sector were revised twice by the ministry — once in 2017 and more recently in 2021 — water norms implementation and compliance was completely overlooked. This is when several power producing regions of the country have been facing acute water shortages and water pollution because of power plants’ effluent discharge.
• High non-compliance: The CSE study surveyed over 154 GW coal power capacity comprising 132 coal power plants. This is about 75 per cent of total installed coal power capacity in India. Private plants did fairly well in terms of compliance; several state-owned plants were found to flout water consumption norms more. Of the 59 GW of non-complying capacity, a major percentage (about 65 per cent) comprised state-owned plants. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra possessed maximum non-complying plants. The non-compliance in UP can be attributed to the age of plants and inefficient practices; also many older plants — including Obra, Parichha, Anpara, Rihand and Singrauli — are freshwater-based once-through plants.
• Solution: The has CSE recommended measures to expedite compliance with the 2015 norms, along with better and accurate accounting of reported water consumption data.

1. Review implementation of water consumption norms and issue clear deadlines to non-complying plants; ensure zero-discharge implementation as per norms
2. Prioritise implementation of norms in water-scarce regions
3. Prioritise decommissioning of old and inefficient freshwater-based once-through cooling plants
4. Cross-verification and monitoring of self-reported water consumption data by third party agency through annual water audits
5. Adoption of uniform format by all plants to report water consumption and compliance data in environment statements
6. Periodic calibration of raw water meter and submission of calibration report to regulatory agency
7. Evolve systems of effective deterrence to ensure compliance with water standards

• Summary: Coal power plants are responsible for about 70 per cent of the total freshwater withdrawal by all industries in India. Indian power plants with cooling tower consume twice as much water as their global counterparts. This massive water footprint must be regulated to mitigate its impact.