I mean, if they would just stop launching the water via rocket into the sun after using it then it would not be so bad. I strongly suspect the water could somehow be re-used. Though we might need to spend several decades in r&d in order to figure out how.
While it seems reasonable to comment about how we're using water it also seems like a complex topic.
What happens to the (slightly warmer) water after it has been used? Is there a way we could return it in a way to minimise impact? I.e if we extract ground water should we inject it back into the ground? Would that even matter?
In the end I have a feeling that the most efficient solution will most likely be to just increase the price of water during a drought. People will complain but it won't be long before the big consumers will happily adjust their consumption or move to an area with abundant water.
>According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, nearly 1 trillion liters of water were consumed by AI data centers in 2025
I'm sorry, what? "Palantir" wasn't bad enough?
Anyway this is silly propaganda as usual. USA gets through over 300B gallons daily. Irrigation alone is over 100B of that. Most of that goes to corn for animal feed. You're not allowed to get all high and mighty about AI water use if you still eat meat.
Just once I'd like to see one of these data center stories acknowledged that data centers existed before the current AI bubble, and maybe try to engage with the question of why nobody seemed to care one bit about them until the past couple of years.
> Residents of an Oregon city in the Columbia River Gorge are uneasy with tech giant Google’s latest plan to expand in the region. ...
> The deal to deliver groundwater to Google has drawn skepticism from members of the public who’ve grown wary of Oregon’s water stability in a changing climate, and that suspicion was on full display at a recent City Council meeting. ...
> “I know a number of people have voiced concerns … and you know I share those concerns. Water’s just absolutely critical to our community,” Richardson said at Monday’s council meeting. “As I’ve said to you, Mr. Mayor, and probably to others, this city is an oasis on the edge of a big desert, and the only reason we’re able to thrive here is because of our water supply.”
I feel like it’s disingenuous to talk about drought in one place and water consumption in another. Water is one of those interesting resources that’s valuable but only in huge amounts that make it largely not transported except for pipelines in very specific circumstances. So it’s not like water use near a plentiful source of water necessarily has any impact on water availability in a drought area (although it could for instance if the drought is happening downstream).
There is plenty of bad stuff in the world it seems silly to invent new things to be upset about unless they are actually happening.
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[ 0.21 ms ] story [ 35.7 ms ] threadWhat happens to the (slightly warmer) water after it has been used? Is there a way we could return it in a way to minimise impact? I.e if we extract ground water should we inject it back into the ground? Would that even matter?
In the end I have a feeling that the most efficient solution will most likely be to just increase the price of water during a drought. People will complain but it won't be long before the big consumers will happily adjust their consumption or move to an area with abundant water.
I'm sorry, what? "Palantir" wasn't bad enough?
Anyway this is silly propaganda as usual. USA gets through over 300B gallons daily. Irrigation alone is over 100B of that. Most of that goes to corn for animal feed. You're not allowed to get all high and mighty about AI water use if you still eat meat.
From a quick search I gather that US citizens' daily use is around 300B gallons https://watercalculator.org/footprint/how-united-states-uses...
I was just curious of the number and scale.
For an example from 5 years ago, at https://www.opb.org/article/2021/09/29/google-water-data-cen...
> Residents of an Oregon city in the Columbia River Gorge are uneasy with tech giant Google’s latest plan to expand in the region. ...
> The deal to deliver groundwater to Google has drawn skepticism from members of the public who’ve grown wary of Oregon’s water stability in a changing climate, and that suspicion was on full display at a recent City Council meeting. ...
> “I know a number of people have voiced concerns … and you know I share those concerns. Water’s just absolutely critical to our community,” Richardson said at Monday’s council meeting. “As I’ve said to you, Mr. Mayor, and probably to others, this city is an oasis on the edge of a big desert, and the only reason we’re able to thrive here is because of our water supply.”
There is plenty of bad stuff in the world it seems silly to invent new things to be upset about unless they are actually happening.
1,000,000 acres * 1,629,250 gallons per acre = 1.629 trillion gallons of water. That’s just California.
(The number in the article doesn't specify whether data center water usage is just us-bound or global)