They (usually) pump water out of the ground because they don’t need it to be filtered or treated. The hot towers turn liquid water into vapor, which they (usually) pump outside. The vapor floats into the air and then gets carried away and dumped somewhere else, like the ocean.
Yeah, man. Consumed in the same way that we mean water is consumed in every other context. Doesn’t change the fact that the ground water is now sky water. Ground water takes months to decades to replenish, using it isn’t harmless to the ecosystems you take it from.
There’s no reason AI datacenters couldn’t be closed loop systems and just reuse the water. There are a multitude of ways water could be used more efficiently, it just has to be regulated.
Say, you wouldn’t have a problem if I dumped my household sewage in your municipal water supply, would you? After all, I’m technically not consuming any water - no molecules are being created or destroyed - just borrowing it for a few hours.
Not entirely. If it’s pumped from the water table, it can take many years for it to filter its way back in through the bedrock.
My dad had a house on a mountain and when his well went dry, I celebrated when it started raining. But then he said it wouldn’t matter, as that rain wouldn’t hit the water table for years, and it would just run off and away mostly.
We could start by using non pottable water in the first place. In Canada, no data centres use groundwater extraction because of stricter regulations. You can shake your fist at the clouds, but far better to lobby your government to pass regulations to protect groundwater.
They (usually) pump water out of the ground because they don’t need it to be filtered or treated. The hot towers turn liquid water into vapor, which they (usually) pump outside. The vapor floats into the air and then gets carried away and dumped somewhere else, like the ocean.
Exactly. The water isn’t destroyed, just put through it’s normal cycle.
Yeah, man. Consumed in the same way that we mean water is consumed in every other context. Doesn’t change the fact that the ground water is now sky water. Ground water takes months to decades to replenish, using it isn’t harmless to the ecosystems you take it from.
There’s no reason AI datacenters couldn’t be closed loop systems and just reuse the water. There are a multitude of ways water could be used more efficiently, it just has to be regulated.
And there’s no reason I couldn’t be a bicycle if you attached wheels to me. We’re talking about what is, not what could be.
So reach out to your representative to encourage them to implement regulations.
Oh well that makes it completely okay!
Say, you wouldn’t have a problem if I dumped my household sewage in your municipal water supply, would you? After all, I’m technically not consuming any water - no molecules are being created or destroyed - just borrowing it for a few hours.
Not entirely. If it’s pumped from the water table, it can take many years for it to filter its way back in through the bedrock.
My dad had a house on a mountain and when his well went dry, I celebrated when it started raining. But then he said it wouldn’t matter, as that rain wouldn’t hit the water table for years, and it would just run off and away mostly.
We could start by using non pottable water in the first place. In Canada, no data centres use groundwater extraction because of stricter regulations. You can shake your fist at the clouds, but far better to lobby your government to pass regulations to protect groundwater.