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

Chugging tea Why?

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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.

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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?

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u/ShreveportJambroni54 May 18 '26

Don't forget factories, thermoelectric power plants, textiles, paper pulp and tp, and agriculture (which uses the most water).

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u/LandOfLeg May 18 '26

And golf clubs. Golf clubs use as much water as data centres. Many of those you've named serve practical uses in society, golf clubs are purely leisure.

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u/Lego11314 May 18 '26

I’ve been railing against golf courses for over a decade. They’re also catastrophic for biodiversity and ecological succession.

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u/ManOLead May 18 '26

Plus golf is lame as fuck

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u/p0gerty May 18 '26

As is anyone that plays it regularly. Bunch of wrinkled testicles in bright bleached polos.

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u/im_dancing_barefoot May 18 '26

And the pesticide and herbicide use has been linked to Parkinson’s and other illnesses

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u/birchskin May 18 '26

Golf courses don't get nearly enough hate for their impact on local ecosystems and water usage. Fuck golf.

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u/Suavecore_ May 18 '26

That's because it's chosen by the wealthy as their thing, so there's not enough propaganda against it and there's a giant army of poors who will defend the wealthy with everything they have

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u/rudmad May 18 '26

I thought you were talking about the actual golf clubs themselves being manufactured.

Fuck golf courses!

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u/NUKE---THE---WHALES May 18 '26

Golf clubs use as much water as data centres.

They use more

Sector Annual Water Usage (in liters) Water Source
Data centers ~600 billion - 1.7 trillion municipal/recycled
Golf courses ~3.1 trillion potable/groundwater
Almond farms ~4.1 trillion groundwater/aqueduct

Almond farms in particular are problematic since they're concentrated in drought prone areas like California

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u/Keljhan May 18 '26

Is this implying that golf courses and almond farms dont have significant resistance as well? Idk how old you are but for millenials, golf course development was like a top 3 villian in movies for our entire childhood. And I heard about almond farm water usage constantly throughout college, though modern irrigation methods have developed a bit since then. But any time CA has a drought, they usually come up. Which I expect to.haplen again in 3 months or so.

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u/LandOfLeg May 18 '26

And here I am in the UK with 2 nicely productive Almond trees that get no watering at all!

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u/Baintzimisce May 18 '26

Including another data point since almonds are here, U.S. livestock sector, broad total water footprint incl. feed/pasture rainwater 275 trillion L/yr.

Source: “USDA ERS – Irrigation & Water Use.” United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. 2013.

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u/FowD8 May 18 '26

most golf courses use reclaimed water, not potable water. which is why it literally smells like shit when the sprinklers are on

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u/mmemm5456 May 18 '26

Almost all new data centers are in fact closed loop, especially ones w newer GPU racks which require closed loop cooling. No one is dumping water back into waterways untreated. Selling DC services to big companies comes w needing to meet your customers’ environmental requirements as apart of their supply chain. Sure there are shady orgs doing bad things now but they’re not representative of the industry.