Coal-Fired Power: A Threat To Our Water
Coal-fired power plants are a threat water supplies
and public health. Coal plants use substantial
amounts of water for their cooling systems, and
large numbers of fish are killed when this water is
sucked out of local sources. The water that is
eventually discharged from coal plants contains
toxic metals and other harmful chemicals that
pose a threat to human health and wildlife. The
water is also released at a higher temperature
than local waterways, killing additional fish and
wildlife. Moreover, mercury released from
smokestacks further contaminates water supplies
and endangers people and other creatures that
rely on those sources.
Water Intake
Coal plants use millions of gallons of water for
their cooling systems, reducing the amount
available for drinking, agriculture, and ecosystems.
Coal plants with once-through cooling are among
the most water intensive energy sources. Each of
these plants withdraws between 20,000 and
50,000 gallons for each megawatt-hour (MWh) of
electricity it produces. A coal plant with closedcycle cooling recirculates cooling water, reducing
withdrawals and fish kills, but these plants still
consume between 480-1,100 gallons per MWh.1
Recirculating systems require more energy to
operate the cooling system, making them less
efficient and potentially generating more heattrapping emissions overall.
Drought and warm weather put water supplies
and coal plants at increased risk, as the need for
drinking water and agriculture compete with
thirsty power plants. A lack of water can even
force a power plant to cut back or shut down
generation. Hot weather can also make incoming
water too warm, forcing plants to reduce output
when it is needed most.
1
Macknick, J. R. Newmark, G. Hearth, and K.C. Hallet. 2012.
Operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for
electricity generating technologies: a review of existing
literature. Environmental Research Letters 7(4).
A power plant with once-through cooling draws
hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of
gallons of water each day from the closest lake,
river, or ocean, and indiscriminately sucks in
whatever aquatic life is near the intake pipe. In
this process, fish and other aquatic life are
smashed and mutilated against crude screens or
are sucked into the cooling system itself. Oncethrough cooling systems draw water from a nearby
water-body and then discharge it at an elevated
temperature, causing severe ecosystem
destruction. Even with the reduced water usage of
closed-cycle cooling technology, there is still
demand on local water supplies and harm to fish
and other wildlife.
Wastewater
After water is processed in a coal plant's cooling
system, it is discharged directly into surface water,
along with heavy metals and other toxic
pollutants, which can be extremely harmful to
humans and aquatic life, even in small doses.
Exposure to toxics like mercury, lead, and arsenic
can cause birth defects, cancer, and other health
problems. These pollutants do not degrade over
time and many bio-accumulate, increasing in
concentration as they travel up the food chain,
resulting in long-term damage to aquatic
ecosystems.
Coal ash dumps are also subject to catastrophic
failure. For example, on December 22, 2008, a
dam holding back millions of tons of coal ash in the
United States failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant in
Harriman, TN, flooding the surrounding residential
area with more than one billion gallons of toxic
sludge—enough to cover more than 3,000 acres
one foot deep.4 Testing showed extremely
poisonous levels of arsenic, mercury, and other
toxins.5
Nothing can make coal ash disposal 100 percent
safe, but surface impoundments, or “wet dumps,”
are the most dangerous – compared to dry
storage, which still has a risk of toxic dust and
water contamination, but carries less of a risk of
catastrophic failure.
Mercury
Coal Ash
Coal ash is the leftover material after burning coal,
and it also contains high levels of toxic heavy
metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and hexavalent
chromium. Exposure to toxics in coal ash can cause
increased risk of cancer, learning disabilities,
neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive
failure, asthma, and other sickness, as well as
poison and kill fish and wildlife.
Burning coal releases toxic mercury into the air
that then rains down into rivers and streams. This
poison then accumulates in the food chain,
eventually making its way into our bodies when
we eat contaminated fish. Mercury is a powerful
neurotoxin that can damage the brain and nervous
system. Mercury is of special concern to women
who are pregnant or thinking of becoming
pregnant, since exposure to mercury can cause
developmental problems, learning disabilities, and
delayed onset of walking and talking in babies and
infants.
When coal ash comes in contact with water, a
soup of hazardous pollutants can leach out of the
waste and poison our water. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency has found some
coal ash ponds pose a 1 in 50 risk of cancer to
residents drinking arsenic-contaminated water.2
Our air can be made unhealthy by toxic ash
particles blowing from landfills and ponds, causing
asthma, lung irritation, and even premature
death.3 The toxic chemicals in ash threaten our
vital organs, particularly those of children, and can
have debilitating effects on their health and
compromise their future.
4
2
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response, Office of Resource Conservation and
Recovery. “Human and Ecological Risk Assessment of Coal
Combustion Wastes.” Draft EPA document. P.ES-7 (April 2010)
3 Id
US EPA, Potable Water Sampling Results Kingston Fossil Fly
Ash Response. (January 4, 2009). Available at
http://www.epa.gov/region4/kingston/pdf/10644911.pdf
5 US EPA, TVA Kingston Fly Ash Release, Lab Analytical Results
for Surface Water Samples. (January 1, 2009). Available at
http://www.epa.gov/region4/kingston/pdf/10644913.pdf