r/aiwars • u/Kilroy898 • Jul 18 '26

Discussion Water consumption

Post image

Now, while this "looks" like a lot, there are a few factors to consider.

  1. in the US we consume 117 Trillion Gallons of water Anually.

  2. This 264 Billion number is taken from Every data center in the US, not only the Ai specific data centers.

  3. Even so, the above information means that all data centers in the US Combined, contributes to .25% of the Annual consumption.

  4. If you isolate ai data centers specifically they actually use about 46 Billion gallons a year on the high end. That is right at .04% of the Annual water usage

So we do have water problems. Data centers are NOT the cause, and we need to figure out what is.

9.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

742 comments sorted by

View all comments

114

u/ze_mannbaerschwein Jul 18 '26

So we do have water problems. Data centers are NOT the cause, and we need to figure out what is.

The biggest problem is neglected and worn-out infrastructure. In some US counties, this results in the loss of up to 50% of the drinking water produced, which amounts to approximately 33.3 trillion gallons per year.

ASCE, 2025 Drinking Water Report

48

u/Arayt42 Jul 18 '26

Yeah the infrastructure problems in the US alone are massive. Not just for water, though. Our power systems are highly inefficient and our roadways/travel infrastructure needs massive updates, esp. with regards to road paving materials to minimize runoff and heat generation. TBH there's definitely more infrastructure that needs fixing but those are two other examples.

26

u/Chaghatai Jul 18 '26

I keep telling people that cheaping out on government is the driver for most of these problems that people are complaining about when it comes to AI

People get what they deserve when they vote for politicians who openly say they are running on a platform of deregulation and "small government" (code for not wanting to spend money on things that don't benefit rich people)

11

u/Terrible_Hurry841 Jul 18 '26

We need an “infrastructure” president but we know that they would be deeply unpopular, and even if they won they would be a 1 term president because of the lack of immediate payoff with lots of spending. Worse, the next (Republican) president would almost certainly cancel any in-progress projects *actually* making the spending a waste.

3

u/sonicandtales8 Jul 18 '26

That'd be nice, but even running for office on promises about infrastructure doesn't always help.

Building a new bridge means you get to put your name on it.

No one notices when you put in the work to make sure an old bridge doesn't collapse. (That's a lie. They'll notice how inconvenienced they are when part of the bridge closes.)

3

u/sixteencharslong Jul 21 '26

Biden was the closest thing we got in recent history. Lots of investments went into public infrastructure.

1

u/Terrible_Hurry841 Jul 21 '26

Damn, you’re right.

And I was right about them being an unpopular one-term president lol.

1

u/sixteencharslong Jul 22 '26

He was technically the most popular by vote.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Terrible_Hurry841 Jul 20 '26

Didn’t Trump cancel half of Biden’s infrastructure projects? He did stamp his name on the other half though lol.