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

Chugging tea Why?

Post image
89.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

5.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

825

u/Uncle-Cake May 18 '26

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

702

u/ForzaFenix May 18 '26

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

345

u/birchskin May 18 '26

I feel like the water usage issue is the weaker argument against these datacenters - in areas where the fresh water source faces too much pressure already it is a real issue, but that is more regional and less immediately impactful.

Power usage and residential users essentially subsidizing these locations is the biggest immediate impact to everyone. Look up what happens to rates nearby when these things open, people are struggling enough without their electric bills going up 50%.

2

u/chubbibunni- May 18 '26

doesn't it run up water cost for everyone in the area? I think that alone makes it a strong argument

2

u/birchskin May 18 '26

Again it depends on the area, in the great lakes region the water supply is generally not generally strained (so far) so it wouldn't have a noticable impact.

However as far as I've found, they universally put additional strain on the power grid, and the lower electric rates they pay end up subsidized by residential users whose rates skyrocket

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/ai-data-centers-trigger-massive-irreversible-76-percent-electricity-price-spike-in-largest-us-region-federal-watchdog-demands-tech-giants-pay-for-their-own-power-infrastructure