3 ms·

I've never understood the water argument... yes, it takes a lot of water in the initial setup to fill the water cooling loops, but isn't not constantly burning

I've never understood the water argument... yes, it takes a lot of water in the initial setup to fill the water cooling loops, but isn't not constantly burning water, right? it gets cooled off again and goes around the loop

alcomatt 15d ago
In some cases it does. Most of the DCs use open evaporators still. Keeps the costs down.
- mapontosevenths 15d ago
  Yes. The part I don't get is why do we care about that? Earth is two thirds water, and it rains. The water I drank this morning is million of years old. It will be around for millions more. So, they pump some water out of the earth and it evaporates... It will come back down, and we aren't running out anytime soon. Why do we care? Are they building these things in deserts? If so that's the problem. They should use closed loops if they want to build in the desert.
  - joenada 15d ago
    This is satirical, right? They use fresh water, which is a tiny, tiny % of all water on earth.
    - voidUpdate 15d ago
      2.5 to 3% according to google... Small but not tiny tiny
      - joenada 15d ago
        That's fresh water in general. Most of it is frozen. The amount you can actually use is a sliver.
      - mapontosevenths 15d ago
        Three percent of two thirds of the entire planet is enormous. We aren't running out, and never will. Some people just live in places that aren't suitable for human life and survive only through technology. Those places need to have different laws about water. For example, I shouldn't be forced to use a low flow showerhead when I'm 100 miles from 1.3 quadrillion gallons of fresh water. If you aren't next door to lake Michigan then maybe you should be.
        joenada 15d ago
        Because you're the only person on earth who matters, clearly. Also, it's not 3% of 2/3. It's more like ~1% of 3% of 2/3. Most of the fresh water on earth is locked up in glaciers or trapped deep underground. You can absolutely lose surface water, too - when pipes leak, for instance. And that happens all the time because a lot of the water infrastructure is ancient. Where I live, there are still thousands of miles of Victorian-era pipes. These crack all the time. You don't just get that water back straight away when it next rains.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        > You can absolutely lose surface water, Where the heck does it go? Space? You're talking about the entire planet here. There's nowhere for it to be lost to, unless you're cracking it into hydrogen and oxygen or something. > Because you're the only person on earth who matters, clearly. As I said elsewhere in this third 2/3rds of humans live near large bodies of water.
        joenada 15d ago
        Your question is already answered in the comment you're replying to.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        It's not. You say it's gone after the pipe leaks, but it's still on earth. I have no idea where you think it goes.
    - mindwok 15d ago
      Why does this matter? It remains fresh when its evaporated until it falls into the ocean, and then gets evaporated from there back into fresh.
      - joenada 15d ago
        It matters because there's almost none as it is, and you don't collect 100% of the water you use just because it rains. Water gets polluted, trapped underground, locked up in glaciers.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        > It matters because there's almost none as it is That's ridiculous and untrue.
        joenada 15d ago
        Statistically speaking, compared to non-fresh water and compared to how much we actually use as a species, there is very, very little fresh water available to us.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        I do need an entire ocean of water to live a normal lifestyle. Only some amount far less than the many, many, many quadrillions of gallons of freshwater we have. If you live in the desert, stop doing that... or get them to laws for your specific place in the world. Where I live we have something close to an infinite supply of fresh water.
        joenada 15d ago
        This attitude is why the world is fucked.
      - alcomatt 15d ago
        Because it rarely goes back to the place it has been taken from.
  - toasty228 15d ago
    Ah ok, then drought aren't a problem I guess? Guess what happens when you pump ground water faster than rain water replenishes it? Guess what climate change is disturbing? This your your typical HN take, aka "I thought about a random problem I barely understand for 12 seconds and I think I figured it out better than domain experts"
    - mapontosevenths 15d ago
      Fully two thirds of earths inhabitants live near large bodies of water. It's not a problem for most of us. The 1/3rd that choose to live in arid places where droughts are a concern should probably just pass laws that require closed loop cooling.
      - toasty228 15d ago
        There are plenty of places built around water for obvious reason which are now experiencing droughts at an increased rate... It's not a problem for most of us yes, but it's a problem for more and more people. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/16/climate/lake-powell-reservoir-record-low-colorado-river https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/16/climate/lake-powell-reser... https://www.dw.com/en/romania-shuts-nuclear-plant-hungary-dams-dry-danube-river/a-78359581 https://www.dw.com/en/romania-shuts-nuclear-plant-hungary-da... https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/06/17/colorado-river-desalination-agreement/ https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/06/17/colorado-river-desa... > Fully two thirds of earths inhabitants live near large bodies of water. Most of these large bodies of water are salty, it's expensive as shit to desalinate it completely infeasible to pump it in land for agriculture and people
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        It doesn't need to be desalinated for evaporative cooling, does it? Maybe they use fresh water because we allow it and it's cheaper. They should outlaw that where it makes sense.
        toasty228 14d ago
- samvher 15d ago
  Yes and many forms of electricity generation evaporate water as well
N_Lens 15d ago
It’s not a good argument in my opinion, just something that’s spread because it’s easy to latch onto. The actual numbers on water usage aren’t a big deal. That’s not to say that AI is all fine and dandy, I genuinely think frontier AI companies have deranged leadership.
scotty79 15d ago
It's about evaporative cooling. Read about how cooling towers work in nuclear and coal plants. The principle is the same for the data centers, but it the wasteheat to get rid of comes from computation. They obviously shouldn't be doing it like that, but since clean water is cheap and business in absence of reason optimizes for lowest costs that's exactly what they did.
alansaber 15d ago
I think it's just the most evocative of the plethora of environmental arguments

alcomatt 15d ago

In some cases it does. Most of the DCs use open evaporators still. Keeps the costs down.

mapontosevenths 15d ago
Yes. The part I don't get is why do we care about that? Earth is two thirds water, and it rains. The water I drank this morning is million of years old. It will be around for millions more. So, they pump some water out of the earth and it evaporates... It will come back down, and we aren't running out anytime soon. Why do we care? Are they building these things in deserts? If so that's the problem. They should use closed loops if they want to build in the desert.
- joenada 15d ago
  This is satirical, right? They use fresh water, which is a tiny, tiny % of all water on earth.
  - voidUpdate 15d ago
    2.5 to 3% according to google... Small but not tiny tiny
    - joenada 15d ago
      That's fresh water in general. Most of it is frozen. The amount you can actually use is a sliver.
    - mapontosevenths 15d ago
      Three percent of two thirds of the entire planet is enormous. We aren't running out, and never will. Some people just live in places that aren't suitable for human life and survive only through technology. Those places need to have different laws about water. For example, I shouldn't be forced to use a low flow showerhead when I'm 100 miles from 1.3 quadrillion gallons of fresh water. If you aren't next door to lake Michigan then maybe you should be.
      - joenada 15d ago
        Because you're the only person on earth who matters, clearly. Also, it's not 3% of 2/3. It's more like ~1% of 3% of 2/3. Most of the fresh water on earth is locked up in glaciers or trapped deep underground. You can absolutely lose surface water, too - when pipes leak, for instance. And that happens all the time because a lot of the water infrastructure is ancient. Where I live, there are still thousands of miles of Victorian-era pipes. These crack all the time. You don't just get that water back straight away when it next rains.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        > You can absolutely lose surface water, Where the heck does it go? Space? You're talking about the entire planet here. There's nowhere for it to be lost to, unless you're cracking it into hydrogen and oxygen or something. > Because you're the only person on earth who matters, clearly. As I said elsewhere in this third 2/3rds of humans live near large bodies of water.
        joenada 15d ago
        Your question is already answered in the comment you're replying to.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        It's not. You say it's gone after the pipe leaks, but it's still on earth. I have no idea where you think it goes.
  - mindwok 15d ago
    Why does this matter? It remains fresh when its evaporated until it falls into the ocean, and then gets evaporated from there back into fresh.
    - joenada 15d ago
      It matters because there's almost none as it is, and you don't collect 100% of the water you use just because it rains. Water gets polluted, trapped underground, locked up in glaciers.
      - mapontosevenths 15d ago
        > It matters because there's almost none as it is That's ridiculous and untrue.
        joenada 15d ago
        Statistically speaking, compared to non-fresh water and compared to how much we actually use as a species, there is very, very little fresh water available to us.
        mapontosevenths 15d ago
        I do need an entire ocean of water to live a normal lifestyle. Only some amount far less than the many, many, many quadrillions of gallons of freshwater we have. If you live in the desert, stop doing that... or get them to laws for your specific place in the world. Where I live we have something close to an infinite supply of fresh water.
        joenada 15d ago
        This attitude is why the world is fucked.
    - alcomatt 15d ago
      Because it rarely goes back to the place it has been taken from.
- toasty228 15d ago
  Ah ok, then drought aren't a problem I guess? Guess what happens when you pump ground water faster than rain water replenishes it? Guess what climate change is disturbing? This your your typical HN take, aka "I thought about a random problem I barely understand for 12 seconds and I think I figured it out better than domain experts"
  - mapontosevenths 15d ago
    Fully two thirds of earths inhabitants live near large bodies of water. It's not a problem for most of us. The 1/3rd that choose to live in arid places where droughts are a concern should probably just pass laws that require closed loop cooling.
    - toasty228 15d ago
      There are plenty of places built around water for obvious reason which are now experiencing droughts at an increased rate... It's not a problem for most of us yes, but it's a problem for more and more people. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/16/climate/lake-powell-reservoir-record-low-colorado-river https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/16/climate/lake-powell-reser... https://www.dw.com/en/romania-shuts-nuclear-plant-hungary-dams-dry-danube-river/a-78359581 https://www.dw.com/en/romania-shuts-nuclear-plant-hungary-da... https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/06/17/colorado-river-desalination-agreement/ https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/06/17/colorado-river-desa... > Fully two thirds of earths inhabitants live near large bodies of water. Most of these large bodies of water are salty, it's expensive as shit to desalinate it completely infeasible to pump it in land for agriculture and people
      - mapontosevenths 15d ago
        It doesn't need to be desalinated for evaporative cooling, does it? Maybe they use fresh water because we allow it and it's cheaper. They should outlaw that where it makes sense.
        toasty228 14d ago
samvher 15d ago
Yes and many forms of electricity generation evaporate water as well

N_Lens 15d ago

It’s not a good argument in my opinion, just something that’s spread because it’s easy to latch onto. The actual numbers on water usage aren’t a big deal. That’s not to say that AI is all fine and dandy, I genuinely think frontier AI companies have deranged leadership.

scotty79 15d ago

It's about evaporative cooling. Read about how cooling towers work in nuclear and coal plants. The principle is the same for the data centers, but it the wasteheat to get rid of comes from computation. They obviously shouldn't be doing it like that, but since clean water is cheap and business in absence of reason optimizes for lowest costs that's exactly what they did.

alansaber 15d ago

I think it's just the most evocative of the plethora of environmental arguments