[culi]

This industry line about closed loop systems not using much water is so pervasive on HN and so wrong. So many people are spreading industry propaganda

First of all, only about 10% of data centers use closed-loop systems. Pointing to a technology that technically exists but is far from standard to represent the entire industry is ridiculous.

Second of all, these facilities do NOT infinitely recycle water. They must regularly "bleed the lines" to remove toxic sludge. The build-up of PFAS is of particular concern. Not to mention the water itself needs to be treated with anti-freezes, anti-fungals, and anticorrosives in order to last multiple cycles.

They also require about 40% more electricity usage. So the trade off is about 70% less water for 40% more electricity and an extremely toxic sludge problem.

TL;DR: closed loop systems are a tiny minority of DCs and their net benefits over open loop are not even clear