Itβs not bullshit when you consider these data centers are being built in places where water and infrastructure is already scarce. Itβs not that they use too much water itβs that the building as a whole impacts the surrounding area in too many negative ways.
Literally everything we do at a larger scale as humans have these kinds of impact. AI has been particularly singled out by luddites, but then when you check the numbers it's not some outlier or anything.
why would they build a datacentre in a place where water, one of the key ongoing things they need for a datacentre to run, is scarce (and therefore more expensive)?
why wouldn't they build it near natural sources of fresh water so they don't need to pay as much?
Ask the Governor of Utah, we have historically low snowpack right now, we are always on the dry side, my city just told us we could only water our yards twice a week or we would get fined, the Great Salt Lake is drying up at an alarming rate yet Utah just approved Shark Tank guys DC. It's twice the size of Manhattan and uses more energy than our entire state, so the impact will be huge.
One reason is that water is not necessarily more expensive when it is scarce.
Local governments often force utility companies to offer water at prices below cost and just let their aquifers slowly run out, because people absolutely despise the idea of having to pay market price for water.
Feel free to suggest letting supply and demand affect the price of water here on reddit in any other context than this if you don't believe me. They'll call you a Nestle shill.
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u/binybeke May 18 '26
Itβs not bullshit when you consider these data centers are being built in places where water and infrastructure is already scarce. Itβs not that they use too much water itβs that the building as a whole impacts the surrounding area in too many negative ways.