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What happens to the water the plants use? Is it polluted and unusable, or just tied up temporarily and can be released [safely] back into wherever it was divert

What happens to the water the plants use? Is it polluted and unusable, or just tied up temporarily and can be released [safely] back into wherever it was diverted from?

Ekaros 5y ago
Evaporation, goes to ground water table, stored in plant matter, goes back to river now enriched with fertilizers from fields. If there is fight over water the last one is likely quite small fraction.
- zargon 5y ago
  They meant the water used in fabs, not agriculture.
- clipradiowallet 5y ago
  Is the returned water safe though? That's what I wasn't sure about, do the fab plants pollute the water to the point it's unusable, or is it able to be re-used(drank).
webmobdev 5y ago
Yes, it is polluted and even toxic. > The manufacturing of semiconductors generates wastewater that contains heavy metals and toxic solvents. Due to the hazardous nature of these liquids, semiconductor companies historically have incurred clean-up costs related to groundwater contamination of up to USD 100 million ... Some companies are proactively meeting these challenges and mitigating related risks by reducing their reliance on chemicals and pro-actively improving the treatment of water before discharge. STMicroelectronics, for example, recycled and reused 45% of the total water it withdrew in 2015 and it partnered with Micron Technology to install on-site fluoride waste treatment facilities. Source: https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-research/resource/investors-esg-blog/waste-not-want-not-water-use-in-the-semiconductor-industry https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-research/resource/investo... The report also gives concrete numbers: Intel fabs consumed 9 billion gallons (around 3.4 trillion liters) of water in 2015. Apparently a fab roughly consumes around 20,000 tons (around 1.98 million liters) of water per day: > The chipmaking industry is water-intensive. According to nonprofit China Water Risk (CWR), an average semiconductor factory consumes roughly 20,000 tons of water a day, equivalent to the daily water use of a city of 58,000. Yet despite its high water consumption, the chip industry—in Taiwan, at least—is not normally a noticeable drain on communal resources. Source: https://fortune.com/2021/06/12/chip-shortage-taiwan-drought-tsmc-water-usage/ https://fortune.com/2021/06/12/chip-shortage-taiwan-drought-...

What happens to the water the plants use? Is it polluted and unusable, or just tied up temporarily and can be released [safely] back into wherever it was diverted from?

Ekaros 5y ago

Evaporation, goes to ground water table, stored in plant matter, goes back to river now enriched with fertilizers from fields. If there is fight over water the last one is likely quite small fraction.

zargon 5y ago
They meant the water used in fabs, not agriculture.
clipradiowallet 5y ago
Is the returned water safe though? That's what I wasn't sure about, do the fab plants pollute the water to the point it's unusable, or is it able to be re-used(drank).

webmobdev 5y ago

Yes, it is polluted and even toxic. > The manufacturing of semiconductors generates wastewater that contains heavy metals and toxic solvents. Due to the hazardous nature of these liquids, semiconductor companies historically have incurred clean-up costs related to groundwater contamination of up to USD 100 million ... Some companies are proactively meeting these challenges and mitigating related risks by reducing their reliance on chemicals and pro-actively improving the treatment of water before discharge. STMicroelectronics, for example, recycled and reused 45% of the total water it withdrew in 2015 and it partnered with Micron Technology to install on-site fluoride waste treatment facilities. Source: https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-research/resource/investors-esg-blog/waste-not-want-not-water-use-in-the-semiconductor-industry https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-research/resource/investo... The report also gives concrete numbers: Intel fabs consumed 9 billion gallons (around 3.4 trillion liters) of water in 2015. Apparently a fab roughly consumes around 20,000 tons (around 1.98 million liters) of water per day: > The chipmaking industry is water-intensive. According to nonprofit China Water Risk (CWR), an average semiconductor factory consumes roughly 20,000 tons of water a day, equivalent to the daily water use of a city of 58,000. Yet despite its high water consumption, the chip industry—in Taiwan, at least—is not normally a noticeable drain on communal resources. Source: https://fortune.com/2021/06/12/chip-shortage-taiwan-drought-tsmc-water-usage/ https://fortune.com/2021/06/12/chip-shortage-taiwan-drought-...