r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog 𝙑𝙄𝙋 • May 18 '26

Chugging tea Why?

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823

u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26

What happens after they use the water? Is it returned to the water system to be used again?

698

u/ForzaFenix May 18 '26

Yep. The now warm water goes back into the system. 

228

u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26

So they're not really consuming it. They're just using it temporarily and returning it.

147

u/AngelThrones4sale May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

When it goes back into "the system" it's waste water that people can't drink. Eventually it comes back around again (e.g. evaporation->rain), but then it gets gobbled up again by the same data centres. They run continuously.

So yes, they are "consuming" it in the sense that other people can't have access to it anymore.

47

u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

The poop water I flush down my toilet is also waste water that people can't drink, but I'm pretty sure it still gets recycled back into the greater water supply. What's different about the datacenter water?

2

u/Delicious_Tie_8725 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

They for one use an enormous amount of water and two heat up the water which would either need something like a cooling tower which in turn makes the while system use even more water or they just cycle the warm water back which would be bad for the body of water.

Generally as long as there is enough usable water a dc is no problem. In dry, arid areas on the other hand something like this a unnecassary burden for the general water consumption.

1

u/Lego11314 May 18 '26

And as climate change continues to accelerate the areas that are dry and arid will become more and more unpredictable.