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Is this water even “used” in the same sense that water is used for bathing or agriculture? Where does the water go? If they simply take in cold water and relea

by avalys 1y ago

Is this water even “used” in the same sense that water is used for bathing or agriculture? Where does the water go? If they simply take in cold water and release hot water, that water is still available for other uses. Or do data centers use evaporative cooling just like power plants?

deleted 1y ago
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xnx 1y ago
> Or do data centers use evaporative cooling just like power plants? Yes. Not always, but evaporative cooling is much more energy efficient than heat exchange to outside air. That said, stories about data center water use are a distraction from much bigger water consumers like golf courses and agriculture (e.g. to ship alfalfa to the middle east).
- teeray 1y ago
  > That said stories about data center water use are a distraction from much bigger water consumers That's something of a fallacy of relative privation. When water is scarce, all frivolous uses should be under scrutiny. The others you mention have been well-known for a long time. The current stories simply highlight a new consumer people haven't thought of before.
  - wahnfrieden 1y ago
    Also - Will data center water usage remain "negligible" if AI succeeds at wide adoption and scales to 100x current deployment? If 100x current usage levels become a concern, I don't know why people pretend that current usage is not a concern for a tech that many of those same people are projecting to scale.
    - neoromantique 1y ago
      >Also - Will data center water usage remain "negligible" if AI succeeds at wide adoption and scales to 100x current deployment? Yes.
  - Romario77 1y ago
    I don't think it's a fallacy, it's much easier to optimize water usage for something that much larger. Agriculture uses about 70% of all freshwater while datacenters are less than 0.5% Some leaky channel will cost more than all the datacenters.
- egorfine 1y ago
  Even in case of evaporative cooling the water is not used. It's returned to the environment.
  - oceanplexian 1y ago
    While technically true, if your datacenter is in Phoenix and you just consumed a few acre feet of water to raise the relative humidity by 0.000001%, for all intents and purposes that was a massive waste of water.
- harddrivereque 1y ago
  The problem with data center water usage is that it is unnecessary from the PR point of view. Data centers can run on air cooling just as good, but more expensive. For all I know, we could also do just as good without data centers, like we did 20 years ago. With agriculture, water usage is necessary as eating is not something optional and everyone needs to eat to survive. From the PR point of view, of course. We couldn't live without agriculture, as we had agriculture 20 years ago too. Golf courses are unrelated as they don't use nearly as much water as agriculture or data centers. PR is everything, the narrative is what makes the difference. There is a lot of hypocrisy in this field, which is why I try to avoid it, but there is also some truth in it - we really didn't need that many data centers 20 years ago.
  - triceratops 1y ago
    > Data centers can run on air cooling just as good, but more expensive "More expensive" means spending more on air conditioning. Ergo more electricity used, higher electricity demand, more natural gas burned and carbon emissions, higher consumer power prices. So a different kind of PR disaster.
    - harddrivereque 1y ago
      The difference in energy usage won't be noticeably higher for PR purposes. Of course, the difference comes at a price, cutting which is the main incentive for water usage.
    - undersuit 1y ago
      OK, so we need to include the effect of introducing a green house gas, water vapor, into the environment.
  - aseipp 1y ago
    Golf course water usage vastly dwarfs data center water usage. Google used something like 1 billion gallons a year for their DCs. Single golf courses in arid regions can use upwards of a hundred million gallons a year, and in those areas there can be dozens of courses. It's not even close in terms of water usage.
teeray 1y ago
Even if it's evaporative cooling, couldn't the water vapor just be... condensed back into water?
- johncarlosbaez 1y ago
  Yes - by cooling it. See the problem?
  - superconduct123 1y ago
    You don't have to use energy to cool it though do you? Couldn't it just flow into a big passive outdoor radiator?
mbac32768 1y ago
Datacenters can use a few different kinds of liquid cooling, including the one you describe. It varies quite a bit by geography.
darkwater 1y ago
> Where does the water go? If they simply take in cold water and release hot water, that water is still available for other uses. Well, first you need to cool it down in a way that's good for the environment, I presume. You should not pour down hot water in a cold river with all its fishes and plants.
LgWoodenBadger 1y ago
If the data-center depletes the water table used for surrounding wells, whether the "released water" is still "available" is irrelevant to those dependent on wells for water. e.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/meta-data-center-water.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/meta-data-cent... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o
deleted 1y ago
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by avalys 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

xnx 1y ago

> Or do data centers use evaporative cooling just like power plants? Yes. Not always, but evaporative cooling is much more energy efficient than heat exchange to outside air. That said, stories about data center water use are a distraction from much bigger water consumers like golf courses and agriculture (e.g. to ship alfalfa to the middle east).

teeray 1y ago
> That said stories about data center water use are a distraction from much bigger water consumers That's something of a fallacy of relative privation. When water is scarce, all frivolous uses should be under scrutiny. The others you mention have been well-known for a long time. The current stories simply highlight a new consumer people haven't thought of before.
- wahnfrieden 1y ago
  Also - Will data center water usage remain "negligible" if AI succeeds at wide adoption and scales to 100x current deployment? If 100x current usage levels become a concern, I don't know why people pretend that current usage is not a concern for a tech that many of those same people are projecting to scale.
  - neoromantique 1y ago
    >Also - Will data center water usage remain "negligible" if AI succeeds at wide adoption and scales to 100x current deployment? Yes.
- Romario77 1y ago
  I don't think it's a fallacy, it's much easier to optimize water usage for something that much larger. Agriculture uses about 70% of all freshwater while datacenters are less than 0.5% Some leaky channel will cost more than all the datacenters.
egorfine 1y ago
Even in case of evaporative cooling the water is not used. It's returned to the environment.
- oceanplexian 1y ago
  While technically true, if your datacenter is in Phoenix and you just consumed a few acre feet of water to raise the relative humidity by 0.000001%, for all intents and purposes that was a massive waste of water.
harddrivereque 1y ago
The problem with data center water usage is that it is unnecessary from the PR point of view. Data centers can run on air cooling just as good, but more expensive. For all I know, we could also do just as good without data centers, like we did 20 years ago. With agriculture, water usage is necessary as eating is not something optional and everyone needs to eat to survive. From the PR point of view, of course. We couldn't live without agriculture, as we had agriculture 20 years ago too. Golf courses are unrelated as they don't use nearly as much water as agriculture or data centers. PR is everything, the narrative is what makes the difference. There is a lot of hypocrisy in this field, which is why I try to avoid it, but there is also some truth in it - we really didn't need that many data centers 20 years ago.
- triceratops 1y ago
  > Data centers can run on air cooling just as good, but more expensive "More expensive" means spending more on air conditioning. Ergo more electricity used, higher electricity demand, more natural gas burned and carbon emissions, higher consumer power prices. So a different kind of PR disaster.
  - harddrivereque 1y ago
    The difference in energy usage won't be noticeably higher for PR purposes. Of course, the difference comes at a price, cutting which is the main incentive for water usage.
  - undersuit 1y ago
    OK, so we need to include the effect of introducing a green house gas, water vapor, into the environment.
- aseipp 1y ago
  Golf course water usage vastly dwarfs data center water usage. Google used something like 1 billion gallons a year for their DCs. Single golf courses in arid regions can use upwards of a hundred million gallons a year, and in those areas there can be dozens of courses. It's not even close in terms of water usage.

teeray 1y ago

Even if it's evaporative cooling, couldn't the water vapor just be... condensed back into water?

johncarlosbaez 1y ago
Yes - by cooling it. See the problem?
- superconduct123 1y ago
  You don't have to use energy to cool it though do you? Couldn't it just flow into a big passive outdoor radiator?

mbac32768 1y ago

Datacenters can use a few different kinds of liquid cooling, including the one you describe. It varies quite a bit by geography.

darkwater 1y ago

> Where does the water go? If they simply take in cold water and release hot water, that water is still available for other uses. Well, first you need to cool it down in a way that's good for the environment, I presume. You should not pour down hot water in a cold river with all its fishes and plants.

LgWoodenBadger 1y ago

If the data-center depletes the water table used for surrounding wells, whether the "released water" is still "available" is irrelevant to those dependent on wells for water. e.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/meta-data-center-water.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/meta-data-cent... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o

deleted 1y ago

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