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This is satirical, right? They use fresh water, which is a tiny, tiny % of all water on earth.

by joenada 21d ago

voidUpdate 21d ago
2.5 to 3% according to google... Small but not tiny tiny
- joenada 21d ago
  That's fresh water in general. Most of it is frozen. The amount you can actually use is a sliver.
- mapontosevenths 21d 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 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
        Your question is already answered in the comment you're replying to.
        mapontosevenths 21d 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.
        joenada 21d ago
        It goes into the soil and can take a long-ass time to get back into any our supply. Yes, it's still on earth, but it's no good to you if it's locked up in the soil or the polar icecaps. And that's not to mention the ridiculous ways we pollute water that make it very difficult if not impossible to recycle. This stuff really isn't as simple as just drain the lakes and rivers. We absolutely could run out of fresh water, and pumping it into data centres is a terrible idea.
        mapontosevenths 21d ago
        > We absolutely could run out of fresh water, and pumping it into data centres is a terrible idea. Maybe if you live in a desert. I'm not going to. We don't all live in the same place, and different rules are necessary. I suspect that much of the talk about evaporative cooling comes from treating places where it is sensible to do as if they are places where it's not. There is a lake not far from that it would take about 3 days to cross on foot at it's SHORTEST point. Walking the full length would take about TWO WEEKS, someone would probably die of dysentery along the way. Water scarcity is a regional problem that's being passed off as a universal concern for all of human-kind. It isn't. Earth has water, lots of it. Some places are just crummy places for humans to live.
mindwok 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
    > It matters because there's almost none as it is That's ridiculous and untrue.
    - joenada 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
        This attitude is why the world is fucked.
- alcomatt 21d ago
  Because it rarely goes back to the place it has been taken from.

This is satirical, right? They use fresh water, which is a tiny, tiny % of all water on earth.

by joenada 21d ago

This is satirical, right? They use fresh water, which is a tiny, tiny % of all water on earth.

voidUpdate 21d ago

2.5 to 3% according to google... Small but not tiny tiny

joenada 21d ago
That's fresh water in general. Most of it is frozen. The amount you can actually use is a sliver.
mapontosevenths 21d 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 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
      Your question is already answered in the comment you're replying to.
      - mapontosevenths 21d 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.
        joenada 21d ago
        It goes into the soil and can take a long-ass time to get back into any our supply. Yes, it's still on earth, but it's no good to you if it's locked up in the soil or the polar icecaps. And that's not to mention the ridiculous ways we pollute water that make it very difficult if not impossible to recycle. This stuff really isn't as simple as just drain the lakes and rivers. We absolutely could run out of fresh water, and pumping it into data centres is a terrible idea.
        mapontosevenths 21d ago
        > We absolutely could run out of fresh water, and pumping it into data centres is a terrible idea. Maybe if you live in a desert. I'm not going to. We don't all live in the same place, and different rules are necessary. I suspect that much of the talk about evaporative cooling comes from treating places where it is sensible to do as if they are places where it's not. There is a lake not far from that it would take about 3 days to cross on foot at it's SHORTEST point. Walking the full length would take about TWO WEEKS, someone would probably die of dysentery along the way. Water scarcity is a regional problem that's being passed off as a universal concern for all of human-kind. It isn't. Earth has water, lots of it. Some places are just crummy places for humans to live.

mindwok 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
  > It matters because there's almost none as it is That's ridiculous and untrue.
  - joenada 21d 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 21d 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 21d ago
        This attitude is why the world is fucked.
alcomatt 21d ago
Because it rarely goes back to the place it has been taken from.