Assessing the impact of changing environment on coal mining water use in China

•The PLS and VAS methods were applied to systematically analyze the degree of influence of influencing factors on coal mining water use and the dynamic response of water use changes.•The economic level has the greatest impact on changes in coal mining water use.•The decrease of water use intensity played a distinctly negative impact on coal mining water use.•Decreasing water intensity in coal mining has a rebound effect.