Many people point to renewable energy as the greatest threat facing fossil fuel power plants. New WRI research finds that the real threat may be water.

When we overlaid areas of current water scarcity with existing power plant infrastructure, we found that 47 percent of the world's thermal power plant capacity—mostly coal, natural gas and nuclear—and 11 percent of hydroelectric capacity are located in highly water-stressed areas. That's a problem because both thermal and hydroelectric power are highly dependent on water to produce electricity.