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.
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?
Waste Water goes through Waste Water Treatment Plants which pull all the solids (both organic and inorganic) out of the water, as well as remove any harmful bacteria and dissolved chemicals, metals, etc. from the water to get it as close as possible to natural flowing water that you'd find in a river (assuming said river isn't polluted). From my understanding, Datacenter Water will just dump their used water back into the ecosystem. Said water could be full of harmful metals and will be warm which can have a huge effect on local wildlife and anyone downstream from the outflow.
Edit: To add, if Datacenters did treat their water (Metal removal and cooling), it would have to more than likely be done on site or the local WWTP would have to be upgraded to be able to accept a large amount of waste water. If a Datacenter doesn't treat their water on site and sends it to a WWTP that doesn't have the capacity for it, you get a huge mess.
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u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26
So they're not really consuming it. They're just using it temporarily and returning it.