AIBU to be concerned that people do not know data centres use drinking water?

[liquidfinch]

Made a thread about the hosepipe ban and data centres came up.

One person got very angry with me and said I was being ridiculous for bringing that up since data centers do not use drinking water... Surprise! Data centres do require drinking water (potable).

Quite concerned that most people are unaware of what the reality is and want to bring this issue to light.

YABU = if you knew that data centres use drinking water
YANBU = if you did not know that data centres use drinking water

Edit: I've realised this question doesn't really lend itself naturally to an AIBU question, sorry for the confusion while I worked out which way around it made sense to ask for votes! If you did know about this but don't think I was being unreasonable I suppose you could just not vote...

Maybe MN want to create a space where people can learn about things. Where the question is DYK (Did You Know?). And then people vote based on
IDK = I did know
IDNK = I did not know

I knew about it, and am also concerned. I don't trust governments, or trillionaires, to prioritise people over maintaining the tech industry. Any government, of any country, or any trillionaire or billionaire come to that.

With climate change access to fresh water could become even more of an issue for large sections of the worlds population. It already is for some countries.

I believe that its fundamentally immoral that servers use gallons of fresh water, when globally children are still dying of waterborne diseases.

I knew that potable (drinking water) is used for data centres. Water treatment is an energy/ chemical intensive process.

Newer data centers use other methods of cooling technology.
YABU

Mind sharing more details about this information?

I still find it insane that we use clean drinking water for toilets too, I don't know why but it feels like it would make sense for homes to use run off water from showers/baths/washing up/washing machines feeding into the toilets for flushing (although I'm not technical enough to know how we'd work that)

They use a closed system, once they have the water it’s just recirculating.
They don’t suck in never ending amounts of water and let it evaporate.

If it bothers you, get off the internet, don't use data

What bothers me is if people don't know what the reality is, so I would like to help people become aware of it. It is then up to each individual to form an opinion.

AI is coming, first for your job and then for your drinking water.

We don't have a system for providing drinking water and a separate system for non-drinking water in most countries, so yes, I would have assumed that they do.

Do we have a split of drinkable/ non drinkable water in UK infrastructure? I was under the impression that we didn't, which means whether the water consumed is drinkable or not is kind of by the by.

Regardless of whether they use water or not, I would like to see water companies fix their wasteful infrastructure before the public is shamed for using services which consume water.

@KatiePricesKnickers Um.... they do let it evaporate.

UK source: (https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644373/Data-dive-Dodgy-data-derails-datacentre-water-debate):

• Datacentres consume water through cooling systems, electricity generation, and the manufacturing of semiconductor chips needed to equip them.
• England is projected to face a daily water supply deficit of nearly five billion litres by 2050, an amount equivalent to more than one-third of the current public water supply.
• Many datacentres use “evaporative cooling”, which relies on continuous replenishment with fresh, potable water.
• The demands of AI processing, particularly during heatwaves, create the need for water-intensive cooling at the time supplies are most constrained.
• There is a geographical overlap between water-stressed regions and areas where datacentres are clustered.
• Current national water infrastructure plans don’t account for the water requirements of datacentres.
• There is a “transparency deficit” in the industry, in which a minority of datacentre operators track their water usage.

US source (https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/%EE%80%80data-centers-and-water-consumption ):

Approximately 80% of the water (typically freshwater) withdrawn by data centers evaporates, with the remaining water discharged to municipal wastewater facilities. The large volume of wastewater from data centers may overwhelm existing local facilities, which were not designed to handle such a high volume.

Yip, and they see we have more up here in Scotland!

They could use the sea - like china do ( aggressively deploying large-scale liquid cooling systems and pioneering futuristic underwater data centers that utilize naturally cold seawater). But that will cost more.

No corporation wants to spend more - like with the mega pilons rather than bury the cabling (but either way people will moan if they dig up the land as well).

I am sure decades ago there was a thing in about NESTLE claiming ownership to water in certain places in the states. I could be wrong.

Some of them do. The older centres use cooling towers which do evaporate the water.

Water companies say oh sorry we've had to put a hosepipe ban in place because we aren't able to treat the wastewater fast enough. well:

Approximately 80% of the water (typically freshwater) withdrawn by data centers evaporates, with the remaining water discharged to municipal wastewater facilities. The large volume of wastewater from data centers may overwhelm existing local facilities, which were not designed to handle such a high volume.

My 13 yr old told me this

Yes I knew (thanks to teenage DC!) and think it's madness. AI can take a running jump as far as I'm concerned, we've managed this far without it.

Glad it's not just me being educated by my children!

& @teaandtoastwithmarmite

Glad you are both enjoying learning things from your children - not all parents do!

You are brilliant for encouraging that and for being proud of it!

A quick google will answer this for you.

Perhaps all the Data centres should be in the Lake District!

@Sometimesitsmyownfault As I've done extensive research into this, I am interested to understand exactly what @BreakingBroken based their claim on.

Since it does not represent the reality of how most data centres operate today I am very keen to know where these new data centres @BreakingBroken mentioned are located.

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and found it very interesting.

I’ve followed Kyle Hill for a while now and his videos always seem well researched and balanced.

ETA - The video title is Data center water is a distraction.

AI is saving lives.