[fxwin]

Nobody is saying that they use "so little water and power", just that the average person has no clue about the orders of magnitude at which anything outside of a private household uses these things, including things they previously didn't really have a problem with (like golf courses or almond farms)

Most people just hear <gigantic number of m³ or kWh> and their brain goes "damn, that must be a lot, i don't use nearly that much at home"

[sroussey]

Water usage for a data center is nowhere near any agricultural use (which is subsidized in California so they aren’t incentivized to change much). Data centers don’t need water at all. It’s just the municipality offering cheaper way to cool by offering water cheaper than power for cooling.

[paulhebert]

Yes but people need food in order to live

(I think golf courses - and some pools - are quite wasteful and would support tax incentives around them.)

[yellowapple]

You don't specifically need beef or almonds in order to live. Even small reductions in the consumption of either would entirely offset datacenter water use.

[sroussey]

Then subsidize food directly rather than via water.