US datacenters tripled their water footprint in 10 years
theregister
US datacenters tripled their water footprint in 10 years
... and those are figures from the start of the AI boom. It can only be worse now. Silo-ed reporting isn't helping
So 80% of this is total bullshit. Do we really care that data centers are causing mild increases in how much water a power plant is taking in from their local cooling ponds‽ That were built specifically for this purpose, so that potable water doesn’t get used.
The real issue with data centers is how much power they use! Talking about their water consumption is a pointless distraction. It’s a topic full of so much misinformation it just turns people away from the real problems once they realize it’s bullshit. “If the water use reported in the media is bullshit, maybe the rest of it is too?”
They’re both problems. Why do you think the water usage isn’t a problem?
The article doesn’t seem to be accurate, or at least the CRS research is inaccurate. Literally one of the links stated that one company used 23 billion gallons in 2023. That might be worldwide, but the U.S. has the most data centers of any nation, so it’s unlikely to have offset how much is actually being used. And yet the CRS report says it’s only 17 billion in 2023?
This is quite the misleading headline and I think you should add an editoral comment to clarify. They explain why.