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Would have been better to not admit it was there or have hidden it. The last things we need are more clean water reserves sucked dry by Intel rather than it fo

Would have been better to not admit it was there or have hidden it. The last things we need are more clean water reserves sucked dry by Intel rather than it focusing on guaranteeing its own supplies through other means, or used as excuses for Southern California not to continue its (admittedly in some counties admirable) efforts to get water resource management under control in concert with other states in the watersheds. Resource curse.

pkulak 2y ago
The fresh water that the PNW currently has access to is mind boggling. If it even comes close to being scarce, the whole world is probably in trouble. We irrigate millions of acres with the Columbia, and it’s still the largest river to hit the Pacific once it gets there. Every city gets their drinking water from their own personal watershed. No one needs to bother sucking water up from far below ground.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
  From a per capita perspective you are probably correct, but there are a ton of people in eastern OR & WA that live within a few miles of the river and still have domestic wells into endangered aquifers. Additionally, there are a lot of farmers with ground water rights (ie wells) and not a ton with surface water rights (ie rivers).
westurner 2y ago
TIL semiconductor manufacturing uses a lot of water, relative to other production processes? And energy, for photolithography. (Edit: nanoimprint lithography may have significantly lower resource requirements than traditional lithography? https://arstechnica.com/reviews/2024/01/canon-plans-to-disrupt-chipmaking-with-low-cost-stamp-machine/ https://arstechnica.com/reviews/2024/01/canon-plans-to-disru... : "will be “one digit” cheaper and use up to 90 percent less power" ) Datacenters too; "Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42376406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42376406 Most datacenters have no way to return their boiled, sterilized water for water treatment, and so they don't give or sell datacenter waste water back, it takes heat with it when it is evaporated. From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454547#42460317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454547#42460317 : > FWIU, datacenters are unable to sell their waste heat, boiled sterilized steam and water, unused diesel, and potentially excess energy storage. "Ask HN: How to reuse waste heat and water from AI datacenters?" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40820952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40820952

pkulak 2y ago

The fresh water that the PNW currently has access to is mind boggling. If it even comes close to being scarce, the whole world is probably in trouble. We irrigate millions of acres with the Columbia, and it’s still the largest river to hit the Pacific once it gets there. Every city gets their drinking water from their own personal watershed. No one needs to bother sucking water up from far below ground.

ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
From a per capita perspective you are probably correct, but there are a ton of people in eastern OR & WA that live within a few miles of the river and still have domestic wells into endangered aquifers. Additionally, there are a lot of farmers with ground water rights (ie wells) and not a ton with surface water rights (ie rivers).

westurner 2y ago

TIL semiconductor manufacturing uses a lot of water, relative to other production processes? And energy, for photolithography. (Edit: nanoimprint lithography may have significantly lower resource requirements than traditional lithography? https://arstechnica.com/reviews/2024/01/canon-plans-to-disrupt-chipmaking-with-low-cost-stamp-machine/ https://arstechnica.com/reviews/2024/01/canon-plans-to-disru... : "will be “one digit” cheaper and use up to 90 percent less power" ) Datacenters too; "Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42376406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42376406 Most datacenters have no way to return their boiled, sterilized water for water treatment, and so they don't give or sell datacenter waste water back, it takes heat with it when it is evaporated. From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454547#42460317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42454547#42460317 : > FWIU, datacenters are unable to sell their waste heat, boiled sterilized steam and water, unused diesel, and potentially excess energy storage. "Ask HN: How to reuse waste heat and water from AI datacenters?" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40820952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40820952