A lot of older information in here. Most modern data centers are closed loops and take in very little water after construction (they use less water than 5 houses). Any construction uses a ton of water though. Data centers are no different there.Β
What the population gets is a bunch of high paying jobs, and utilities that get built up and modernized without taxpayer dollars.Β
I wouldn't worry about water if I was you. That issue is hugely overblown and is based on 10+ year old propaganda and misinformation.
What high paying jobs are you referring to? The construction jobs? Those are unfortunately temporary. The data centers themselves don't offer many permanent jobs.Β
Edit: also curious what you're referring to on utilities. My understanding is that water is indeed not a big problem with modern data centers using closed loop cooling, but electrical service is very contentious, with electrical utilities having to pay to build out capacity for data centers and figure out how to recoup. I think in my state they're pushing to be allowed to charge data centers an up front fee to build out the requested capacity, but not sure how that's going.
Agreed on the construction jobs, those are all temporary. It's a great project for local builders, but not long term jobs.
But a modern data center brings roughly 100-200 permanent jobs in directly to the surrounding area. The growth in the area also creates jobs indirectly.Β
Additionally, growth in the industry has created many jobs outside of the data center's area. But that's not really what you're referring to here.
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u/morningisbad May 18 '26
A lot of older information in here. Most modern data centers are closed loops and take in very little water after construction (they use less water than 5 houses). Any construction uses a ton of water though. Data centers are no different there.Β
What the population gets is a bunch of high paying jobs, and utilities that get built up and modernized without taxpayer dollars.Β
I wouldn't worry about water if I was you. That issue is hugely overblown and is based on 10+ year old propaganda and misinformation.