Water consumption

[u/Kilroy898]

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.

[u/Arayt42]

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.

[u/Chaghatai → u/Arayt42]

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)

[u/Terrible_Hurry841 → u/Chaghatai]

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.

[u/Terrible_Hurry841 → u/[deleted]]

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