Water is a critical resource in dwindling supplies in many water-stressed regions. These data centers have been known to suck up water supplies during active droughts. Is there anyone left at the EPA that gets a say in how we manage water for projects like this?
Why either/or? This is largely a tech forum so almond crops don't need to be the big area of focus or where we as a community can offer our best knowledge/coordination.
Correct. There are a variety of solutions. Each DC is somewhat unique, but in general water isn't a huge concern. Cities make a big deal about it b/c they want the hyper scalers to give concessions such as processing gray water for the local muni.
Evaporative cooling effectively "uses up" the water. It's possible to run chillers instead, but that consumes more electricity, and some power plants also use evaporative cooling.
Some water usage has highly questionable counting methodologies.
Like using if a datacenter is using hydroelectric power you count the evaporation from the dam reservoir as "used water".
I'm not an expert but imo correct accounting should really only consider direct consumption. It's very silly when we play games like having petro states have very high carbon footprints even if they don't actually burn the fuel.
Am I correct that your argument is something like, "AI endangers our water supply"? If so, what evidence would it take for you to change your mind? Maybe someone here can provide it.
The argument is that water management policy is lacking and supplies are dwindling, shouldn’t we have better oversight of this resource before we let corporations run full speed ahead?
