For anyone wondering, Google consumed 25% of water used in a city of 16000 people. This doesn't seem unreasonable.
If you're one of those 16,000 it would look a lot more unreasonable.
Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
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Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the people earning the other 90% do not count? I thought wealthier people doing whatever they want was a bad idea, but not if it's Googlers.
I didn't say that, but if you think the wealth Google provides those 200 doesn't benefit the remaining 16k then you're delusional.
Ahh the old trickle down fairytale
Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#83and. i bet the nsa uses more
Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#84It would be nice if it could be cooled using water from the Columbia river instead of from the aquifer... I only live like 3miles from the data center but am on a different water source. Still, with increasing drought conditions it might contribute to increased costs and availability in the future. I already pay $75/m for water...
Thats literally in the article. Why they don't use river.
Maybe re-read my comment?
Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
The primary purpose of some dams is for water control, whether to control flooding, provide for irrigation and consumption, or both. You cannot divorce the power station from the reservoir in judging a particular hydro dam's environmental impact, because generating power is only one purpose of the dam. The Hoover with Lake Mead is certainly, objectively, and effectively of this dual purpose.
Yes, but none of that consumes water. In fact, the opposite is true: The dam makes more water available for consumption throughout the year.
Maintaining the reservoir consumes water, because it exposes thousands of times as much surface area for evaporation vs. a narrow river.
Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
The header image for the article is a picture of steam rising up from their datacenter. Nearly all water that we use is eventually recycled. Steam will eventually come back down as rain, and rainwater works its way through the ground and into streams and rivers - the magic of the water cycle. Water is a renewable resource from that perspective. The issue is the rate at which we use it, because the water cycle is not…
>This is why water reservoir levels are dropping all along the Colorado river. This is very much a human made problem, but nobody is talking about it. The flow rate through the dam has been increased to generate more power due to the lack of new baseline power generation capabilities. The demand comes from the shutdown of coal and gas fired powerplants across the west coast. The dam has to flow more water to generate…
Where has the river level gone up to match this increased flow rate?
Re: Google’s water use is soaring, consume more than 25% of water used in The Dalles
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The benefit is about prestige, not only about 200 families.
The primary benefit is 200 Google salaries stimulating the relatively small local economy.
Do you think datacenter security and techs in a small town get paid the same as software engineers in Silicon Valley just because they work at Google?