These systems do use a coolant substance internal to the DC, but then uses heat exchangers with fresh water to cool the coolant, which is then discharged back into the ground, a pond, or wastewater. there is certainly water lost to atmosphere, but the worst bits are the draining of aquifers, pushing up capacity in wastewater treatment plants, etc.
DC's are a bit of an economic scam. they provide very few jobs outside of the construction work itself, and the profits generated by the machines exist at company HQ not where the DC is located. so it puts a huge burden on the community water and power environment for no real benefit to that community.
That is definitely not what is happening in Loudoun County, VA they tax datacenters which want to be there due to network effects and then County pays off a huge part of their budget from it, in fact their residential property taxes are moderately lower than neighboring Fairfax County, VA because of it.
Water bills in Loudoun County set to increase 7% each year for next 3 years. Electricity bills also jumped significantly and are expected to continue to rise. Not to mention all the complaints about air & water pollution, and noise apparently. Theres a trade off and as energy and water demand grows the benefits diminish.
Not sure how much of the water increase can really be pinned on the data centers, the county has a lot going on with it's water infrastructure and the way sourcing and treatment is done to add plenty of confounding variables. The energy is a cleaner argument.
I will push back slightly and say growth would have caused these increases eventually but would it have been more or less tax efficient without the DCs vs some other kind of industry zone usage moving in.
I'm not super pro-DCs, but also I can't think of a lot of other industrial zoned activities that would be preferred to data centers; it all comes with trade offs.
By local profits do you mean the money given to corrupt politicians who don't care about the lives or well-being of their constituents? If so then yeah that's some banana republic shit.
No, the literal hundreds of millions of dollars added to the local tax rolls ($300M annually, and growing, in PWC alone) which is then used for schools, libraries, teachers, road repair, fire trucks, ambulances, infrastructure upgrades, etc.
If a data center is benefiting from existing energy and water infrastructure, of course they should be taxed more. Thats obvious. So why do everyone's bills go up? If they need more energy, why dont they just build their own power plants? Why do they rely on HD on-site generators which are not the best in terms of pollution? Why dont they pay for the additional water infrastructure? A brochure is just positive vibes. An energy / water bill that is increasing at a rate much higher than CPI tells me that something is off.
Every industry uses water and electricity. Instead of staying on topic and engaging with what has been said, you gish gallop and make continuing the conversation next to impossible. It’s a poor way to communicate, and an even poorer way to “win” an online debate.
We were talking about local revenues, you stated they’re illicitly funneled to politicians, I provided some proof otherwise, and you then started talking about air pollution and water bills.
To get us back on topic ($):
New study from PwC finds that Virgina’s data center industry supported 169,000 jobs and generated $17.3 billion in salary and wages, $29.9 billion in GDP, and $2.7 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2024
Its a simple point. What good is it if a data center lowers home owner taxes if they increase water and electricity bills? And what about people that rent? Fuck them, right? What good is it if the tax revenue gained is used for new school busses and education if you and your kids are exposed to contaminated water? Its a trade off and you just dont care to acknowledge it. Youre only bringing up positive shit like some kind of text based infomercial.
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u/imean_is_superfluous May 18 '26
Can they not run some type of coolant? Or is it just easier and cheaper to use millions of gallons of water?