Water consumption from coal plants

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Power generation has been estimated to be second only to agriculture in being the largest domestic user of water.^[1] To produce and burn the 1 billion tons of coal America uses each year, the mining and utility industries withdraw 55 trillion to 75 trillion gallons of water annually, according to the US Geological Survey.^[2]

It was estimated in January 2011 report by the Civil Society Institute, "Benefits of Beyond BAU: Human, Social, and Environmental Damages Avoided through the Retirement of the US Coal Fleet", that the number of gallons drawn per day for nuclear and coal power plants is 200 billion gallons. According to data collected by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), water withdrawals from thermoelectric power sources account for 49 percent of total withdrawals in the United States in 2005, or 201 billions a day.^[3]

The 2012 report "Burning Our Rivers: The Water Footprint of Electricity" estimates that a mega-watt hour (MWh) of electricity generated by coal withdraws approximately 16,052 gallons and consumes approximately 692 gallons of water.<sup>[4]

https://www.gem.wiki/Water_consumption_from_coal_plants</sup>