3 ms·

Because "the water thing" is make or break for for the southwest, which includes LA, and LA's water system includes NorCal consequences, and California water is

Because "the water thing" is make or break for for the southwest, which includes LA, and LA's water system includes NorCal consequences, and California water issues include all-country impacts due to the farming there. If you haven't been paying attention to the "water thing," that doesn't mean it's not serious af.

chasd00 2mo ago
> Because "the water thing" is make or break for for the southwest no, it's a thing because you can put water in terms that even a hair dresser can be convinced to get scared and angry about. No technical knowledge required.
- testerteert000a 2mo ago
  Simply untrue, assume you don't live out there
scarmig 2mo ago
California and Arizona use literally orders of magnitude more water for alfalfa farming than they do for data centers.
- xnx 2mo ago
  Maybe we could increase people's outrage if we called them "alfalfa centers"? (I agree with your point.)
- testerteert000a 2mo ago
  But when datacenter purchases by Meta are buying pre-colorado compact water rights for the DCs, you can tell what you need to know on how the DC builders treat the short term water risk.
quickthrowman 2mo ago
Millions of acre-feet of water, far more than all of the data centers use in the United States combined for evaporative cooling, are used to flood irrigate alfalfa crops in California and Arizona to feed cows. 5% of this is exported. It’s orders of magnitude more water. All of the irrigated golf courses combined use more water than all of the US data centers combined.
- insane_dreamer 2mo ago
  if we were seeing a big increase in building new golf courses in those areas, we'd have the same protests same if increasing alfalfa farming was increasing significantly it's harder to stop something that already exists (shutting down existing golf courses or alfalfa farms has consequences for the local communities) than to stop something from coming into existence in the first place
- testerteert000a 2mo ago
  The problem, while your data is probably accurate enough conceptually, is that DCs showed up too late to the scene - the water isn't accounted for. DCs, new golf, new homes, new alfalfa, new ranching - the math isn't there. Tech people saying ignore the water problems are saying implicitly that AI, despite showing up late in line for access to a resource that's an old, old problem in the western US, is more important than hearth and home considerations fighting for the same dwindling resource. The average western farmer/rancher, their own judgement and contributions to this problem aside, definitely love coastal tech people sniping their pre-colorado compact water rights via all that goes into getting water rights like that.

chasd00 2mo ago

> Because "the water thing" is make or break for for the southwest no, it's a thing because you can put water in terms that even a hair dresser can be convinced to get scared and angry about. No technical knowledge required.

testerteert000a 2mo ago
Simply untrue, assume you don't live out there

scarmig 2mo ago

California and Arizona use literally orders of magnitude more water for alfalfa farming than they do for data centers.

xnx 2mo ago
Maybe we could increase people's outrage if we called them "alfalfa centers"? (I agree with your point.)
testerteert000a 2mo ago
But when datacenter purchases by Meta are buying pre-colorado compact water rights for the DCs, you can tell what you need to know on how the DC builders treat the short term water risk.

quickthrowman 2mo ago

Millions of acre-feet of water, far more than all of the data centers use in the United States combined for evaporative cooling, are used to flood irrigate alfalfa crops in California and Arizona to feed cows. 5% of this is exported. It’s orders of magnitude more water. All of the irrigated golf courses combined use more water than all of the US data centers combined.

insane_dreamer 2mo ago
if we were seeing a big increase in building new golf courses in those areas, we'd have the same protests same if increasing alfalfa farming was increasing significantly it's harder to stop something that already exists (shutting down existing golf courses or alfalfa farms has consequences for the local communities) than to stop something from coming into existence in the first place
testerteert000a 2mo ago
The problem, while your data is probably accurate enough conceptually, is that DCs showed up too late to the scene - the water isn't accounted for. DCs, new golf, new homes, new alfalfa, new ranching - the math isn't there. Tech people saying ignore the water problems are saying implicitly that AI, despite showing up late in line for access to a resource that's an old, old problem in the western US, is more important than hearth and home considerations fighting for the same dwindling resource. The average western farmer/rancher, their own judgement and contributions to this problem aside, definitely love coastal tech people sniping their pre-colorado compact water rights via all that goes into getting water rights like that.