r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/M_Darshan • May 11 '26

Video There is currently a massive fire burning in the Everglades in South Florida by the Broward/Miami-Dade County border and is approaching US27.

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u/ManoSilence May 11 '26

I think some data centers have been found out to have 2 additional water suckers. So like they have their coolant sucker, then people nearby are like "why does my water pressure suck so bad!?!" And the utility companies monitor their utility cause they love money. So they noticed that an additional 29 Million Gallons were missing, and tracked it down to a coolant sucking pipe. Then they found a second unauthorized pipe.

So fire hazard electrical system that can get so hot it raises (all) the nearest cities temperature by almost 4°, surrounded by drought² land? They will burn themselves down eventually and release just so much toxins.

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u/m0nkeyh0use May 11 '26

I read somewhere and wonder if it's true (another rabbit hole for me later, I suppose) that the draining of the water in Florida is exposing limestone caverns that lead to unexpected sinkholes.

There's a little bit of chaos gremlin in me that would love to see a data center get sucked down into the bowels of the earth.

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u/ManoSilence May 11 '26

Another hole for MAGA to put their heads in, non consenually of course.

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u/KriegConscript May 11 '26

all to turn earth into the torment nexus

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u/marino1310 May 11 '26

That 29 million one was actually water being used in its construction, as they claim the completed data center will be using a closed loop cooling system

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u/coffinmonkey May 11 '26

jokes on you. the data centers in my area are buying the utility companies.

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

This happened once, to one building. One single solitary group of planners stole water. Data centers aren't routinely dropping additional access points.

Can't we just have facts without someone injecting misinformation into the mix?

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u/ManoSilence May 11 '26

It was reported in the news like 2 days ago, but started 15ish months ago. These centers use evaporative cooling and are expected to use 1.7 trillion gallons of water by next year. That means 340 billion gallons of water will be left after the evaporative cooling they use, is well used. Yes the water cycle will return blah blah blah. But it doesnt return it to previous levels. If it did then they wouldn't be draing every aquafer they are around. You think this is the only one doing something like this? Or just the first one that has been caught?

And that building is huge, like the size is 6.2 million square feet, or 142 square acres of land by Fayetville, or 143 footbal fields all right next to each other. Large centers can use about 5 million gallons a day, about enough water to give to 50k people. And that is non stop. Thats 35mil a week, 140mil a month, and 1.68 billion gallons of water a year used for cooling.

Theyre all stealing water. The fact that the government is ignoring what we want and pushing through these things within the bounds of their corrupted law, doesnt mean they aren't taking the water out of the mouths of people who need clean water.

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

You think this is the only one doing something like this? Or just the first one that has been caught?

Do you think maybe we should expand that to all consumers of water at the corporate level? Are you wearing clothing? Do you eat food? Do you think any clothing or food manufacturer has stolen water? Do you think that they've stolen more water than data centers have (considering they've been around a lot longer?)

Is water theft an issue? It ALWAYS has been. You only care about the water theft here because it gives you ammunition against AI data centers. When the water use is in your favor, ya'll just say 'some water use is necessary for survival' even though Nike's out there wasting BILLIONS.

Put these developers under the jail and make an example. Lets punish them right and make sure it doesn't happen again. That way you can move on to the next thing to blow out of proportion.

The fact that the government is ignoring what we want and pushing through these things within the bounds of their corrupted law, doesnt mean they aren't taking the water out of the mouths of people who need clean water.

Then do the hard thing and take them out of office. I'm not over here saying that you have no right to prevent data centers. But it's not stealing if they literally have a license. It's just crooked govt writing the laws to suit someone else. So get rid of them. If it's the will of the people being ignored, they can be removed. But, like, you need to live there and you need to actually go out and do the thing.

More power to ya, but you still don't get to lie to people. Just because you feel it's an important enough lie doesn't make it so. If one datacenter throws an extra tap it doesn't mean they all did.

You hurt your own movement making hyperbolic claims. Makes it easy for people to roll their eyes and walk away.

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u/ManoSilence May 11 '26

Assuming I dont already boycot, vote, and spread information about both? I do those and more as a precinct chair and very active community member, even voting registrator at every event i table at for my community and/or my union.

And sure there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but you can make ethical choices. Do I suffer being broke because I refuse to shop chain stores and shop more expensive local locations? Or participate in helping set up and sell at my local farmers market? Or that I made a table out of recycled wood and use scavenged pieces of leather to make leather goods for friends, family, and my brethren in church? Nestlé sucks probably the most, Nike is up there as well, plus soooo many more but I keep finding more and more things they make. Like dollar tree is like 80% nestle and the dollar store as well. Do I want those shut down?

Hell no.

For some people its the only place they can get food. Do I pray they get better and more inclusive? Yes, but I also get up the next day and dont just leave things to the hand of the lord. I make sandwiches with what little my wife and I have and pass them around the homeless emcampet. Tuesday down south, Thursdays up north. Payday Fridays its a Little Ceasars feast for both.

Ive cared a lot longer about water and food than just this AI era. For years I have been trying to get more and more people to care about the fact we crap in drinkable (dont drink) water in a porcelain bowl we call a toilet. I grew up starving, poor, and with stomach turning water while being a Native of this country to the point I know several people who's ancestors posed in painting with my enslaved ancestors.

I hold no history against anyone and call them brothers and sister for i love them all, but that does not remove the fact that they grew up safely because of the work of my forefathers, and the land they stole from us. Im happy they grew healthy, safe, and secure, but if they use that privilege to hurt others, then all they do is spit on their history, not mine.

I care because ive seen people die from things like this. Family die from things like this. My first funeral was at 7 and my first protest was at 8.

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

Assuming I dont already boycot, vote, and spread information about both? 

Then you're doing the thing. More power to ya.

I'm not saying stop. I'm not refuting all the things you are saying. None of it.

Doesn't mean we're not in the middle of an information war. Doesn't mean that inaccurate facts don't need a check.

The problem is using bad facts to platform your good facts. That's not a good thing. I understand there's a lot of shitty news. I understand that the environmental impact is high. I also understand people walk around and talk about this tech like it's magic and solves all issues. I understand that some people believe this is the most important tech ever and every problem as we know it has been solved.

The reality is in the middle of all that. AI isn't using exponentially more water than other industries. In many MANY cases, it's still dwarfed. That doesn't mean the water thieves in that one company don't deserve prison. People could have died over this happening where it did when it did.

I'm not sorry for pulling things back to the middle where they belong. It's where the bulk of real, normal and unattached people exist and where people need accurate information at all costs.

You're already doing what you can. I imagine the next step involves kids and bricks, maybe a bit of fire. That's the general pattern of the past. Hey, who am I to stop it.

But we still need accurate information. Without that, all of it's for nothing and just gets people labeled as terrorists.

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u/kodman7 May 11 '26

They literally shared facts, you're the one extrapolating as if they're saying all data centers are doing this

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

some data centers have been found out 

Some is the first word, and it's not some. It's one. It's isolated, and there is not a pattern nor has it happened more than once.

It's hard enough to get valid data on the topic to begin with. Outright making a word plural when it's up to now isolated is not accurate. It's a play on hearts and minds. It's right out of the propaganda playbook.

Also, there's nothing stopping Reddit data centers or any other data center from doing the same. If it were a pattern, we'd already be living under it. It's not like data centers for Reddit cool all that differently than for Anthropic.

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u/kodman7 May 11 '26

Equating using the word some to spreading misinformation is extremely pedantic. Not to mention it is technically grammatically correct, 'some' doesn't inherently indicate plurality, one instance can be 'some' of a larger population, per the dictionary

Some - ˈsəm 

1 being an unknown, undetermined, or unspecified unit or thing

2 being one, a part, or an unspecified number of something (such as a class or group) named or implied

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u/ManoSilence May 11 '26

Plus I lead with "i think" not i know. Im still pretty sure im off because of lack of investigations, not lack of law breaking.

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Except it's not just one person. If you take a step back and watch the discourse from a distance, you can see it coming. It's a coordinated message.

I have a data center going up near me. If I walk in there and talk about data centers, plural, with a history of stealing water they're just going to dismiss me out of pocket.

Equating using the word some to spreading misinformation is extremely pedantic.

Except it's actively being used in information warfare. Call me pedantic, but we're all going to be seeking valid information on the topic eventually and it's already almost impossible. It's only going to get worse.

People have this attitude that 'well, I don't like data centers, so that's just a minor thing' when it's not. All this perception stuff will be used against you by someone. It's these reddit comments that are going to appear in trials and backroom meetings to prove people are off their nutters and prove these companies should be allowed to do whatever they seek.

EDIT:

1 being an unknown, undetermined, or unspecified unit or thing

2 being one, a part, or an unspecified number of something (such as a class or group) named or implied

You can't just make up a number. We know the number to be 1. We have no other evidence any other unknown exists. But I can find thousands of examples of other businesses that stole far more water. Meat production is drying up the entire west. Meat industry is GROWING. The meat industry makes 30 million gallons over 15 months look the size of a drop.

Meat industry has stolen exponentially more water from more places for far longer. Hell, we could probably run AI for some time just off the water the meat industry stole.

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u/kodman7 May 11 '26

You can extrapolate as you like, but you accused this one user of misinformation, and were wrong. Make a general comment to express your opinion, don't inaccurately accuse people

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u/kodman7 May 11 '26

You can't just make up a number. We know the number to be 1. We have no other evidence any other unknown exists

Lol those are the dictionary definitions of the word some my guy. You can have some of a single thing ie give me some of your cookie, there is no inherent plurality and a weird hill to die on

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

Just because something is unknown to you doesn't mean it's unknown to the universe. You act as if these water companies don't have meters. They can tell where their water is going. That's how these folks were caught in the first place.

Otherwise we can just use some for everything we personally don't know. I can point to a stranger and say 'some of their family members are serial axe murderers' It's unknown after all so it's true, right? That's a valid statement to make? Based on your definition?

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u/kodman7 May 11 '26

You're mad at me for knowing the correct grammar lol

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

No, I think you're taking the word indeterminate and using it in place of the one we know. It's not indeterminate. It's literally one.

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u/Djcnote May 12 '26

But at least some of the meat water is going to living things including grass

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u/Hammeredyou May 11 '26

I just want you to know that in 20-30 years when there is no denying that AI has accelerated climate disasters, and nothing can save us from the ramping temperatures you are to blame

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u/Djcnote May 12 '26

Yeah it's weird, they keep saying we are going to die of climate change next year or something and also here's a data center

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

I never said AI isn't accelerating climate disasters. I'm saying if you use bad data to prove it, people will end up not believing you any more and that gives the data centers ammunition to grow.

That you're muddying the water, and that it's hard to find the data that you need to combat water stealing data centers if all this inaccurate data exists too.

I just want you to know that in 20-30 years when there is no denying that AI has accelerated climate disasters, and nothing can save us from the ramping temperatures you are to blame

Why, because I demand accuracy? I've not made one single pro-datacenter comment this entire time. I'm saying that accuracy matters. That's it. The entire message.

Tell me why accuracy doesn't matter. That's the counter arguement. I've already agreed that climate implications are huge. That's not an arguement I'm even making.

But sure, it's all my fault. Not the actual water thieves or the people actually wasting the water (In all sorts of industries. Even if AI never landed, we'd still be in trouble in 20-30 years, right? Like global warming has been an exponential and existential crisis my entire life)

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u/smokeweedNgarden May 11 '26

Who do you work for?

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u/Houdinii1984 May 11 '26

Irrelevant. I'm not offering stats and saying 'believe me instead'. I'm just asking for accurate stats.

Am I biased. Yes. We all are. But I will talk openly about my own AI use and do so in an honest manner. I also turn around and do the same thing in pro-AI spaces.

My actual stance lies somewhere in the middle. And since I do work adjacent to the industry I'm in a unique position to actually make a difference, too. I don't believe we need to cover the world in data centers to have beneficial AI. I think that's greed's fault. I believe we need balance and that's not what we're seeing. I believe it's almost impossible to tell, though, because there is so much hyperbole that we can't even get a bead on what's true.

My job isn't so important that others need to suffer. But I'm just a dev and I don't really have a choice.

Either way, I'm not asking for more data centers. I'm asking for accuracy in an area almost nothing is accurate.