[sharpshadow]

Is this a kind of new measurement with the water consumption? The water flows back, gets purified and into the system again. In this case it does not even get dirty. Should it not be just extra energy consumption, to purify the water, instead of it’s own metric?

[leoedin]

Unfortunately the moment the environment and energy are involved, journalism falls apart. "Water consumption" is a meaningless metric if it 's not accompanied by other information - location, energy intensity of water, source of water, where the water goes next. None of this stuff is ever included.

A mill next to a river "consumes" the water that turns its wheel, but then immediately releases it back into the river. That's very different to a cooling tower that turns that water into vapour and releases it into the air. Which is the data centre doing?

Assuming the data centre isn't actively depleting groundwater, the only important number is how much energy it consumes (including for water related activities). Perhaps also power per unit of compute.

In a lot of places in the world, using water for cooling is likely to be more efficient than an equivalent heat pump - so should be celebrated!

[funnym0nk3y]

Water usage in humid regions is not a problem (and not nearly as efficient for cooling). Is a problem when consumption gets so high that ground water levels change or fossile ground water is used.

[satiated_grue]

Look (literally with eyes) at Ashburn on a humid morning. Above the datacenters providing the "cloud" are literal clouds of condensation from the evaporative coolers, and bigger ones at the local power plants providing the electricity.

[bob1029]

They could be using evaporative cooling towers.

It is entirely possible to run a data center with a minimal fixed amount of water if the cost of power and real estate are not a concern.

[Terr_]

More often than not, potable water is drawn up and then literally evaporated.

So from the practical perspective of everybody else who happens to need water from the pipe/aquifer/lake/snowmelt, it's "gone" just as much as if it were dumped into the sea.

[sharpshadow]

Hmm I see. I thought it was tab water running through cooling tubes and back into the sink.

If they actually pump free water from source around their location and release it back how they want to, the points about water consumption are definitely legit.

[thefz]

You can't really re-circulate the same water or else it needs to be cooled again, and dumping it back will destroy wildlife. Fishes especially are very sensitive to temperature swings in the water.