It’s World Water Day on Saturday and this year’s theme highlights the facts that water is needed to produce nearly all forms of energy and the demand for both is rising.
When looking at these pictures taken by our photographers from around the world, I’m once again reminded how lucky I am to have easy, unlimited access to this precious resource when billions have to survive without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
Join me on a journey through various lands whose people have been affected by the production of coal and suffer the consequences of irresponsible mining, like contaminated water and dropping groundwater levels that impact on their farming.
Bharuddin, 40-year old fish farmer in front of his pond in Makroman, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. He has claimed that since the nearby coal mine operated in 2007, the toxic waste from the mining site have contaminated the water in the area killing most of his fish. © Kemal Jufri / Greenpeace
The largest coal power plant with a capacity of 2,625 megawatts (MW) coal power plant owned by Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) in Mae Moh district,in Lampang province, North of Thailand. © Luke Duggleby / Greenpeace
Children and other villagers often younger than 18 years, skim through the fly ash-laden water to collect cenosphere, a lightweight byproduct of coal. This pond in the outskirts of Vilhale Village, near Varangaon, Bhusawal Taluka, is not a designated ash dumping site of the state owned Bhusawal thermal power station (1420 MW). Yet ash from the nearby ash pond contaminates this water source which is used by the villagers for domestic purposes. © Zishaan Latif / Greenpeace
MNS Informal Settlement in Mpumalanga, Witbank (also called Emalahleni, "place of coal"). A worker of the coal washing station stands alongside the water that has already been used. Water pollution from coal is a serious problem in South Africa, and deepening a water scarcity crisis. © Mujahid Safodien / Greenpeace
Masahane Informal Settlement just outside Witbank. This informal settlement is situated about 1,5kms from Duvha Coal power station. The community members have no access to electricity, and collect coal for their household needs, which is donated by the power station. The water they receive from the municipality is minimal, making them use the polluted water next to their informal settlement. © Mujahid Safodien / Greenpeace
A Greenpeace activist in a coal ash disposal site that belongs to the Yuanbaoshan Power Plant, in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. On windy days, the coal ash gets scattered far across the earth, blanketing the vegetation. Cows that eat grass contaminated by coal ash will produce less milk by as much as 2kg a day. © Zhao Gang / Greenpeace
Cattle graze near the Baiyinhua No. 1 open-cast coal mine in West Ujimqin Banner of Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia. Ten billion cubic meters of water will be consumed by 16 new coal fired power plants and mines in China in 2015, triggering severe water crises in the countrys arid Northwest. © Lu Guang / Greenpeace
Zhang Dadi, a farmer from the Adaohai Number 1 Commune, has a 150-meter deep well that he uses to irrigate his corn field. Last year he planted 20 mu of land, but could only irrigate 15 mu (1 hectare). © Bo Qiu / Greenpeace
An evening rainstorm partially obscures the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant in Shuozhou, Shanxi province. In the foreground lays Its coal ash pond. © Zhao Gang / Greenpeace
Elderly woman from Tatlar village. The vineyard owned by her family has dried out and is polluted from the ash and heavy metals produced by the Afsin-Elbistan A and B Plants power plant. Local people claim that the plants have been responsible for serious health effects and that the ash produced dries up rivers and agricultural lands in the area. © Umut Vedat / Greenpeace
