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>...granted Google permission Wednesday to pump 549 million gallons of water out of the ground each year to cool servers at its sprawling plant in Berkeley Coun
by swebs 7y ago
>...granted Google permission Wednesday to pump 549 million gallons of water out of the ground each year to cool servers at its sprawling plant in Berkeley County.
>DHEC’s decision is the latest development in a bitter fight over whether the company should get state approval to withdraw from a major groundwater source that, critics say, is dwindling and in jeopardy of being further depleted.
Just put the warmed water back? It's not like it's being contaminated or anything.
- stingraycharles 7y agoI'd expect warmed groundwater will have unintended consequences for the biodiversity there; lots of essential bacteria and other small organisms would suffer. And that is assuming they keep the groundwater as-is, without adding any additives, neutralizing the water, etc.
- black_puppydog 7y agoI have zero qualifications on that, but warming up the ground water sounds like a really good way to encourage anything living down there to rapidly multiply. And that is even if google's server cooling circulation was a sterile environment, which I highly doubt.
- londons_explore 7y agoThis water will be used in evaporative coolers. There won't be warmed water to return. The water gets recycled 50-100 times, and each time a small percentage evaporates into a cloud. The cloud really does make clouds.
- tyingq 7y agoLike this... https://intra.ece.ucr.edu/~sren/project/water/img/water_cooling.jpg https://intra.ece.ucr.edu/~sren/project/water/img/water_cool...
- zannaxy 7y agoHow clouds are made! As my friend Tanya would say to keep me cheerful near those smokestacks.
- piker 7y agoEvaporative coolers in low country South Carolina? Is there a more humid place on Earth?
- jmknoll 7y agoWhat’s stopping the collection and re-condensation of the evaporated water, which can then be returned to the river.
- newnewpdro 7y agoSo.. cloud formation then rain?
- igreulich 7y agoTo the extant that the local news knows anything, it is being reported here that the water will be returned to circulation (for lack of a better word) via the sewer, and its treatment cycle.
- zaroth 7y agoAs supposed to... were they anticipating Google would be breaking down the water into component hydrogen and oxygen?