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AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

wsj.com

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Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#11

Post by gordonhart »

bradleyjg wrote: post #2

Google’s just-released 2025 sustainability report is an instructive example. The company said it consumed 10.9 billion gallons of water—a 34% increase from 2024—almost all for data-center cooling. … Google consumes around three times as much water indirectly as directly, according to a paper published earlier this year by Alex de Vries-Gao, a researcher at the Netherlands-based university VU Amsterdam. — My take: the…

I find golf courses to be a more effective framing. Even if the alfalfa is consumed by animals, it's still a part of the food supply chain and gives people the easy response, "yeah, but we need to eat, we don't need datacenters."

Google's 10.9B gallons in 2025 is equivalent to ~55 18-hole golf courses (200M gallons/year average in the US). Which provided more value to the economy and to you as an individual last year? Google or 55 out of ~15k total golf courses in the US?

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#12

Post by variety8675 »

oersted wrote: post #8

I feel like it’s never made clear in what way the water is used up in these cases. It’s not like it’s consumed like fuel. And it is not absorbed like in agriculture. But I understand it is not trivially recyclable either, the heat of the water alone can be harmful if released as-is. Does cooling happen via evaporation and is that how the water is “lost”? And I am not sure if it is contaminated in other ways. What is…

Obviously water is renewable, but the constraint here is finite public water system capacity. When that capacity is allocated to data centers less is available for other community needs. See https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.02705

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#13

Post by bayindirh »

j45 wrote: post #7

I wish these articles would clarify that there are climates where datacenters exist where water is not used food for cooling including evaporative cooling. Just because the U.S. uses it doesn’t mean the rest the world does in every build. Buildings are built for the climate of where they exist. If a building can’t cool itself above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, that sounds like it could be common in the U.S. there are othe…

U.S. can also do closed loop liquid cooling, though. No?

With drycoolers or chillers, you can pump out enormous amount of heat energy out of water, even in hot climates.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#14

Post by bayindirh »

variety8675 wrote: post #12
oersted wrote: post #8

I feel like it’s never made clear in what way the water is used up in these cases. It’s not like it’s consumed like fuel. And it is not absorbed like in agriculture. But I understand it is not trivially recyclable either, the heat of the water alone can be harmful if released as-is. Does cooling happen via evaporation and is that how the water is “lost”? And I am not sure if it is contaminated in other ways. What is…

Obviously water is renewable, but the constraint here is finite public water system capacity. When that capacity is allocated to data centers less is available for other community needs. See https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.02705

The water you infuse with biocides is not "immediately renewable". You can't send it to your water management center and just pump back to people.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#15

Post by cynicalsecurity »

Almonds producers in California use roughly 60-85 times more water annually than all US data centers combined, depending on the exact figures and whether indirect power-plant water is included.

Wake up, people! Stop the evil producers of almonds!

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#17

Post by jaredcwhite »

gordonhart wrote: post #11
bradleyjg wrote: post #2

Google’s just-released 2025 sustainability report is an instructive example. The company said it consumed 10.9 billion gallons of water—a 34% increase from 2024—almost all for data-center cooling. … Google consumes around three times as much water indirectly as directly, according to a paper published earlier this year by Alex de Vries-Gao, a researcher at the Netherlands-based university VU Amsterdam. — My take: the…

I find golf courses to be a more effective framing. Even if the alfalfa is consumed by animals, it's still a part of the food supply chain and gives people the easy response, "yeah, but we need to eat, we don't need datacenters." Google's 10.9B gallons in 2025 is equivalent to ~55 18-hole golf courses (200M gallons/year average in the US). Which provided more value to the economy and to you as an individual last year…

The golf courses in my town provide infinitely more value to me than anything from Google.

And I don't even golf.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#18

Post by jaredcwhite »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #15

Almonds producers in California use roughly 60-85 times more water annually than all US data centers combined, depending on the exact figures and whether indirect power-plant water is included. Wake up, people! Stop the evil producers of almonds!

I can't eat data centers. Almond milk, OTOH, is a great non-dairy substitute for my cereal.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#19

Post by jaredcwhite »

Avicebron wrote: post #5
pj_mukh wrote: post #3

tl;dr: Because the power plants they rent power from, and have very little control over, use water too Is that water cleaned and put back in the environment? Can the municipalities use the tax cash influx to clean up their power sources? Not answered or considered which is weird for an org as storied as WSJ. The bottom line is Heartland re-industrialization will use resources and look different from previous industri…

> Can we keep the political focus on the oligcharcal control over our government instead of making something as dry as data centers some kind of new frontline on the Omni-cause I imagine every side jumping on the water issue is exactly trying to distract from this. You'll notice you hear about water consumption issues much more than oligarchy and wealth inequality on "progressive media".

It's a real issue, and it feels like a bad faith claim that people are "jumping" on the issue as a distraction.

We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can call out wealth inequality and oligarchy, and also talk about the very real water issue with regard to data centers (and electricity, and loss of rural land, and other many other aspects).

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#20

Post by bradleyjg »

bix6 wrote: post #9
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa. It’s absurd to complain about their usage. Water use policy is about agriculture, agriculture, and also agricultural. Everything else is a distraction.

How is everything else a distraction? We are overusing our water budget so every little piece on top is extra impactful.

I don’t really know how to rephrase it. It’s a distraction.

This article could have been about shipping alfalfa to the Middle East and Asia, but instead it was about this.

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