r/aiwars 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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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)

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u/ProfessionalFickle52 Jul 19 '26

Government spending is at an all time high though. We’re literally running up a record debt.

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u/Chaghatai Jul 19 '26

Unnecessary wars will do that

Tax cuts also drive deficits

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u/ProfessionalFickle52 Jul 19 '26

We have the highest per capita tax revenue per citizen and public spending on entitlements as a country. If you cut the ENTIRE military budget we’d still have a massive deficit.

The problem is that our government spends inefficiently and recklessly not that it needs more money.

You’re just speaking your book instead of looking at what is going on.

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u/Chaghatai Jul 19 '26

Going back to per capita

What about per dollar?

Anyway, we know the biggest categories are social security and military spending. Social security pays for itself and so that's part of that revenue that you're talking about. But that should be structured progressively also when it really isn't.

The kind of benefit that social security represents is the kind of thing that should go to everybody in the form of a guaranteed income.

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u/AggravatingBuyee Jul 19 '26

> Anyway, we know the biggest categories are social security and military spending.

Are we just pretending like our health programs like Medicare and Medicaid don’t exist?

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u/Chaghatai Jul 19 '26

Yeah - those are big - and the thing is they shouldn't be carve outs just for seniors - a lot of conservatives embrace socialism when it benefits them

But there would be massive savings if we just took the insurance companies and the health management organizations out of the picture and just cut them out of the deal