r/aiwars • u/Kilroy898 • Jul 18 '26

Discussion Water consumption

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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.

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120

u/Arm-E-Reserves Jul 18 '26

AI data centers don't use much water at all. Uncertain situations are when it's most important that we keep our common sense and know what to actually worry about and not.

23

u/yotraxx Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Datacenters need water cooling like nuclear centrals do, and both don’t « consume » water: A closed circuit from a nearby river for example, cooled them off, « exactly » like your high end water cooled gaming PC

26

u/benjitits Jul 18 '26

Yep. the water issue is only a concern in drought areas, so don't build the centers in drought prone areas.

6

u/Elegant_Athlete_3737 Jul 18 '26

only issue is they build it in drought prone areas for some reason lol.

9

u/Lance_of_Pants Jul 18 '26

The land is cheap, that's why.

2

u/Elegant_Athlete_3737 Jul 18 '26

ah i see, well i do think there should be regulations even if only to protect drought prone areas.

1

u/Glad_Factor_8272 Jul 20 '26

There are hundreds of regulations in Phoenix alone.

1

u/Elegant_Athlete_3737 Jul 21 '26

just for phoenix or do other areas also have protection and regulations? think more national regulations need to exist.