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by morpheos137 7 days ago
the water cycle exists. unless data centers are being built in deserts or run off fossil aquifers the or other water constrained circumstance the waste is supurious. As other commenters have said closed loop cooling exists. Billions of motor vehicles run on water based cooling and consume virtually nothing once filled.
2 comments

> unless data centers are being built in deserts or run off fossil aquifers the or other water constrained circumstance the waste is supurious.

In some cases, they are.

The Colorado River basin waters seven states and is in extreme drought. There are proposed data centers in the area that would require water from the Colorado or from already distressed aquifers.

Part of it is they are being built in places that have water issues already or ones in the middle to long term future. Central to west Texas is a good example of these.

They are being built with evaporative cooling which is not closed loop.

With that said, the vast majority of the yelling about water issues is overblown, power issues are far more likely to be a problem.