Coal-Fired Plants Gulp 1.5 Trillion Gallons of Water and We're Left to Drink the Dirty Backwash http://www.alternet.org/water/146148/coal-fired_plants_gulp_1.5_trillion_gallons_of_water_and_we're_left_to_drink_the_dirty_backwash

Here's a sobering fact: Coal-fired power plants use approximately 1.5 trillion gallons of water a year in the US.In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff.

Makes you wonder: Has the EPA ever tabulated the external costs of coal on our water resources?And then, after that refreshing drink of desperately needed water, the 600-odd coal-fired plants (the EIA actually reports 1,445 coal-fired generators) typically throw up their chemically enhanced processed wastewater into our rivers and waterways, poisoning our own drinking water.