India’s $80 billion coal-power boom is running short of water

April marks the start of the cruellest months for residents of Solapur, a hot and dry district in western India. As temperatures soar, water availability dwindles. In peak summer, the wait for taps to flow can stretch to a week or more.

Just a decade ago, water flowed every other day, according to the local government and residents of Solapur, some 400 km inland from Mumbai.

Then in 2017, a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant run by state-controlled NTPC began operations. It provided the district with energy ...