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Why does this metric matter, when 95% of the water Intel uses is already returned to the water supply? From the same verge article as the 4 million gallons a d

by rrss 5y ago

Why does this metric matter, when 95% of the water Intel uses is already returned to the water supply? From the same verge article as the 4 million gallons a day figure: > Last year, the company pledged that by 2030 it will restore and return more freshwater than it uses. It’s nearing that benchmark in Arizona, where Intel says it cleaned up and returned 95 percent of the freshwater it used in 2020

spiderice 5y ago
How is it possible to return more fresh water than you use? Where does the surplus come from?
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  Because water that isn't fresh can become fresh. We have the technology. They're already purifying a staggering amount of water, might as well purify a bit more while they're at it.
  - BurningFrog 5y ago
    That still doesn't explain where this unfresh water comes from.
    - tedivm 5y ago
      They can take wastewater (which is no longer fresh), clean it up for use, and return it back to the system. While Arizona is landlocked there's also not a ton of distance between it and the Gulf of California so they could do desalinization, although I imagine that's too costly to consider at the moment. > It has its own water treatment plant at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler that’s similar to a municipal plant. There’s also a “brine reduction facility,” a public-private partnership with the city of Chandler, that brings 2.5 million gallons of Intel’s wastewater a day back to drinking standard. Intel uses some of the treated water again, and the rest is sent to replenish groundwater sources or be used by surrounding communities.
    - TrueDuality 5y ago
      They're taking raw untreated river/lake/aquifer water, purifying it to an incredible degree for the fab. When they use the water it gets cleaned again. Now that water can either be returned to the river/lake/aquifer or if you clean it sufficiently well it can go straight into municipal drinking water supplies. That's how this fresh water comes out of nowhere.
      - arcticfox 5y ago
        That doesn't seem right. As far as I know, rivers/lakes/aquifers are pretty much the definition of fresh water.
        hunterb123 5y ago
        Yes they are the definition of fresh water, not purified water. Running fresh water is relatively clean, but it doesn't mean there isn't giardia or other microbes / impurities.
        reissbaker 5y ago
        Okay, but Intel promised to return more freshwater than it used. So it can't simply take freshwater, purify it, and return it at a surplus.
        caeril 5y ago
        Maricopa and Pinal counties have lots of agricultural water that either comes directly off the Colorado river via canal, or is pumped from shallow alfalfa field runoff groundwater that is too full of nitrates to be even remotely potable. We also, unlike the CA Central Valley or the Midwest who are apparently cool with depleting their resources as fast as humanly possible, are acutely aware of our groundwater supply constraints, given that we live in a desert, and practice a lot of aquifer recharge and management. Intel cleans it, uses it, and dumps it into aquifer recharge, which cleans it even further.
        bluGill 5y ago

by rrss 5y ago

spiderice 5y ago

How is it possible to return more fresh water than you use? Where does the surplus come from?

jjoonathan 5y ago
Because water that isn't fresh can become fresh. We have the technology. They're already purifying a staggering amount of water, might as well purify a bit more while they're at it.
- BurningFrog 5y ago
  That still doesn't explain where this unfresh water comes from.
  - tedivm 5y ago
    They can take wastewater (which is no longer fresh), clean it up for use, and return it back to the system. While Arizona is landlocked there's also not a ton of distance between it and the Gulf of California so they could do desalinization, although I imagine that's too costly to consider at the moment. > It has its own water treatment plant at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler that’s similar to a municipal plant. There’s also a “brine reduction facility,” a public-private partnership with the city of Chandler, that brings 2.5 million gallons of Intel’s wastewater a day back to drinking standard. Intel uses some of the treated water again, and the rest is sent to replenish groundwater sources or be used by surrounding communities.
  - TrueDuality 5y ago
    They're taking raw untreated river/lake/aquifer water, purifying it to an incredible degree for the fab. When they use the water it gets cleaned again. Now that water can either be returned to the river/lake/aquifer or if you clean it sufficiently well it can go straight into municipal drinking water supplies. That's how this fresh water comes out of nowhere.
    - arcticfox 5y ago
      That doesn't seem right. As far as I know, rivers/lakes/aquifers are pretty much the definition of fresh water.
      - hunterb123 5y ago
        Yes they are the definition of fresh water, not purified water. Running fresh water is relatively clean, but it doesn't mean there isn't giardia or other microbes / impurities.
        reissbaker 5y ago
        Okay, but Intel promised to return more freshwater than it used. So it can't simply take freshwater, purify it, and return it at a surplus.
      - caeril 5y ago
        Maricopa and Pinal counties have lots of agricultural water that either comes directly off the Colorado river via canal, or is pumped from shallow alfalfa field runoff groundwater that is too full of nitrates to be even remotely potable. We also, unlike the CA Central Valley or the Midwest who are apparently cool with depleting their resources as fast as humanly possible, are acutely aware of our groundwater supply constraints, given that we live in a desert, and practice a lot of aquifer recharge and management. Intel cleans it, uses it, and dumps it into aquifer recharge, which cleans it even further.
        bluGill 5y ago