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.
Using water to cool a data center is absolutely not equivalent to using it for farming. Once you irrigate a field, that water is gone. But if water is cooling something, then it can be collected and used again. Of course, that requires a city or county to have a water reclamation program.
Likewise, if you water a lawn, that water is gone. But if you flush water down a toilet or a shower drain, the water is potentially reusable. Just needs to be cleaned.
Waste water can also be used for cooling. I believe that's how the Palo Verde nuclear plant outside of Phoenix is cooled.
This doesn't seem true to me, in the sense that anything is truly "gone". The water doesn't cease to exist or is converted to anything other than water. It just moves.
I've been wondering this too (what happens to the warmer water), and haven't found a satisfying or objective explanation. Everything is "AI drinking my water" which... just makes no sense.
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.
> I feel like it’s disingenuous to talk about drought in one place and water consumption in another.
I recall my dad had a Tanzanian visit via work. My dad took him out for dinner, and as soon as they got a table the waiter came with glasses and a jug of water, as is customary here.
The guy got really upset, neither of them had asked for water and as such he thought it might go to waste.
My dad had to explain that in Norway water is not a scarce resource, at least not to the point of having to save a jug of drinking 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.
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.
That's the joke OP is making. Some people (albeit usually teenagers) legit think that water is a nonrenewable resource and once it's used, it's gone forever.
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.
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.
(The number in the article doesn't specify whether data center water usage is just us-bound or global)
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.
Likewise, if you water a lawn, that water is gone. But if you flush water down a toilet or a shower drain, the water is potentially reusable. Just needs to be cleaned.
Waste water can also be used for cooling. I believe that's how the Palo Verde nuclear plant outside of Phoenix is cooled.
This doesn't seem true to me, in the sense that anything is truly "gone". The water doesn't cease to exist or is converted to anything other than water. It just moves.
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.
Unfortunately, ragebaiting about this specific issue is very lucrative.
I recall my dad had a Tanzanian visit via work. My dad took him out for dinner, and as soon as they got a table the waiter came with glasses and a jug of water, as is customary here.
The guy got really upset, neither of them had asked for water and as such he thought it might go to waste.
My dad had to explain that in Norway water is not a scarce resource, at least not to the point of having to save a jug of drinking 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.
What is the origin of this rule? What is the enforcement mechanism?
1,000,000 acres * 1,629,250 gallons per acre = 1.629 trillion gallons of water. That’s just California.