When we think about water use, we think about the water we drink, but we also need water to grow food, generate electricity, make our clothes and extract minerals. In short, water drives the economy. In China, 97% of electricity generated requires water to produce, so no water literally means no power.
Between 2010-2030, China plans to add 1.2 terawatts of water-reliant power. This is equivalent to adding more power than the combined installed power generation capacity of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia today. Coal is central to China’s energy policy.
Despite China’s efforts to curb its carbon emissions by cutting reliance on coal from around 70% of its energy mix to 55%, China’s coal-fired capacity is expected to increase by the equivalent of 450 gigawatts. This addition in coal-fired power is more than double the whole of India’s power generation today.
The role of coal in air pollution has received a lot of attention; lesser known is its impact on water. Not only is it water intensive to mine, it is also polluting.
Around 95% of China’s coal is mined underground with heavy reliance on groundwater use. In Shanxi province, studies estimate that 1.07m3 of groundwater is destroyed per tonne of coal extracted. With around 70% of coal production coming from Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi & Hebei provinces, this may lead to further deterioration of the already polluted groundwater in the North China Plain.
Worse still is that 53% of China’s ensured coal reserves lie in water scarce regions and 30% lie in water stressed regions.
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