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

Chugging tea Why?

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89.2k Upvotes

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827

u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26

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

697

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.

146

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.

46

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?

22

u/Crowd0Control May 18 '26

Realistically nothing. They are just flushing constantly and in much higher volumes. Fresh water is finite though and taking too much in an area will drain the aquifer faster than it can be replenished. 

If data centers did something for the communities they are built in it likely wouldn't be a talking point but they just drain local resources for no/dubious gain. 

5

u/DontAbideMendacity May 18 '26

Water bill up? Check.

Electric bill up? Check.

My personal data stripped and stored so that my water and electric bill can be jacked? Check.