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Currently almost all countries sell water earmarked for industrial use at absurdly reduced prices, when compared to consumer prices. Jack up the rate so both p

by jorvi 3y ago

Currently almost all countries sell water earmarked for industrial use at absurdly reduced prices, when compared to consumer prices. Jack up the rate so both pay the same, and introduce a huge pollution / cleaning penalty for companies that don’t emit virtually fully (talking something like 99.999% here) cleaned wastewater. It’s slowly happening in Europe, but we’re decades to late with it. Even in The Netherlands and Belgium we’ve allowed companies to dump a continuous stream of PFAS-production polluted water straight into a river. Clown world :)

Cthulhu_ 3y ago
It gets worse; Microsoft datacenters have been allowed to use up huge amounts of drinking water for cooling; it gets treated to avoid clogging up the lines, heated up, then just dumped back in the river. It's shameful and wasteful, and our country will run out of fresh water in my lifetime; I even heard one that says the aquifers will be running out within ten years. And they just used it for cooling. Likewise, there's heavy investments in offshore wind parks, but companies like Microsoft just come in (with government subsidies) and buy up the whole capacity. It was supposed to replace, not supplement, existing power generation options.
- chollida1 3y ago
  > It's shameful and wasteful, and our country will run out of fresh water in my lifetime; I even heard one that says the aquifers will be running out within ten years. This doesn't seem to track. They take water out of the river and put the same amount back in as its a closed system in a pipe. How can they be responsible for lower water levels if they are net zero in usage? Send me a link that backs up your claim that they are depleting the water table so I can fix the holes in my knowledge
- chromatin 3y ago
  > It gets worse; Microsoft datacenters have been allowed to use up huge amounts of drinking water for cooling; it gets treated to avoid clogging up the lines, heated up, then just dumped back in the river. > It's shameful and wasteful What you've described does not sound shameful OR wasteful?
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    It’s not so much fun if you’re a fish.
    - prottog 3y ago
      Not so much fun for a fish, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose. Existence itself carries a cost to those around the being that exists; should it be feasible for a datacenter and fish to coexist it ought to be done, but were I to pick one over the other, I'm afraid the fish has to go.

by jorvi 3y ago

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

It gets worse; Microsoft datacenters have been allowed to use up huge amounts of drinking water for cooling; it gets treated to avoid clogging up the lines, heated up, then just dumped back in the river. It's shameful and wasteful, and our country will run out of fresh water in my lifetime; I even heard one that says the aquifers will be running out within ten years. And they just used it for cooling. Likewise, there's heavy investments in offshore wind parks, but companies like Microsoft just come in (with government subsidies) and buy up the whole capacity. It was supposed to replace, not supplement, existing power generation options.

chollida1 3y ago
> It's shameful and wasteful, and our country will run out of fresh water in my lifetime; I even heard one that says the aquifers will be running out within ten years. This doesn't seem to track. They take water out of the river and put the same amount back in as its a closed system in a pipe. How can they be responsible for lower water levels if they are net zero in usage? Send me a link that backs up your claim that they are depleting the water table so I can fix the holes in my knowledge
chromatin 3y ago
> It gets worse; Microsoft datacenters have been allowed to use up huge amounts of drinking water for cooling; it gets treated to avoid clogging up the lines, heated up, then just dumped back in the river. > It's shameful and wasteful What you've described does not sound shameful OR wasteful?
- Spooky23 3y ago
  It’s not so much fun if you’re a fish.
  - prottog 3y ago
    Not so much fun for a fish, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose. Existence itself carries a cost to those around the being that exists; should it be feasible for a datacenter and fish to coexist it ought to be done, but were I to pick one over the other, I'm afraid the fish has to go.