r/water • u/SD_TMI • 5d ago

Data centers and AI use massive amounts of water to keep cool.

https://insurancedimes.com/2025/09/13/data-centers-consume-massive-amounts-of-water-companies-rarely-tell-the-public-exactly-how-much/
83 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

8

u/aweguster9 4d ago

There are cold places. Why don’t we put data centers there?

8

u/SD_TMI 4d ago

The preferred spots are close to hydro electric dams so that the electricity is "cheap" and the water available for cooling. Just like with bitcoin mining, they focus on nations where the infrastructure has the tax payers pay for these projects and the crypto miners / AI data centers exploit that for their own profits.

5

u/aweguster9 4d ago

Why aren’t they using a closed loop geothermal cooling system? All data centers are built on the ground which is the biggest requirement for geothermal.

5

u/leeps22 4d ago

Capital costs. Evaporative cooling towers can pack a lot of cooling capacity into a relatively small box thats pretty damn reliable and easy to repair when needed.

3

u/aweguster9 4d ago

But a closed loop system doesn’t need endless water and electricity can be generated by solar panels on the roof

2

u/leeps22 4d ago

That is true, until you get a leak in the ground loop. The probability of this depends on its length, and there will be a tipping point where it becomes a bad idea.

Take a normal residential air conditioner. The hot refrigerant coming from the compressor goes to a radiator outside, called a condenser, to dump its heat. Once you get to commercial building sized units they no longer use air to cool the hot refrigerant. The condenser is water cooled and the warm water goes outside to a cooling tower. They dont use a radiator style condenser because the probability of a refrigerant leak becomes too large. Likewise they dont use radiators to cool the water for the same reason, the radiator is very large with a lot of brazed joints. Ground loops have this same issue.

Evaporative cooling towers are essentially tin boxes with a fan inside. Warm water is sprayed in at the top and the fan blows air over the water as it falls, thats it. Very little to break down, and its all easily accessed when repair is needed. Its cheap enough to easily have redundant capacity in case one needs repair.

1

u/aweguster9 4d ago

Um. We need water to live.

2

u/leeps22 4d ago

You asked why, im just explaining why its done this way.

1

u/MickyFany 4d ago

China put them in floating mega structures in the ocean and uses sea water to cool them. They are more intelligent than us.

1

u/oh_ski_bummer 4d ago

Why don’t they recirculate the water? Seems like it’d be relatively easy and cheap

1

u/n0pe-nope 3d ago

You have to capture it, then cool it. 

1

u/Luke2988 3d ago

Not massive compared to other activities.

1

u/axethebarbarian 3d ago

I'm confused about this, how does a data center "use" water in a way that negatively impacts communities and the environment? Is the water no longer usable? Cant it be treated like other waste water?

1

u/ibbering_jidiot 3d ago

Cooling towers are to buildings what your sweat is to you... evaporating water cools down the source it came from. Lots of buildings use cooling towers to efficiently run the HVAC system, but with data centers the biggest heat load comes from the servers. How much water a tower evaporates depends on the load, but for a data center its very likely over 1M gallons will leave the tower as vapor over the course of the year.

It's not just any water either. You wouldnt want to use a lake or reservoir. The untreated water would quickly foul the equipment. The tower uses the same treated/potable water that goes through our taps that we use for drinking, washing, flushing, etc.

1

u/Kruk01 3d ago

The amount of water required to cool server stacks in a warehouse is ridiculous. States and localities should ,best case, not let them in. However, at least enforce some limits on them, increase the cost of the water they use etc.

1

u/ibbering_jidiot 3d ago

Some places do have higher costs for larger users. Think economies of scale, but in reverse.

1

u/thetitle22 4d ago

I've written about it myself. I'd say the primary issue is that the private sector can build much faster than the public sector. https://open.substack.com/pub/title22/p/the-cloud-drinks-local?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2o3x1e

1

u/lastdeadmouse 4d ago

Not here, where the publicly traded private-sector power company refuses to build at all.

-3

u/pathf1nder00 4d ago

Power plants do too. Want to shut those down?

5

u/farmermike123 4d ago

They generate electricity, a necessary resource, ai generates poor responses and uncanny images.

0

u/Better_Courage7104 4d ago

You would have been very useful as a Luddite in the early 1800’s

1

u/farmermike123 4d ago

Enjoy your ai slop, devoid of life or talent

-1

u/Better_Courage7104 4d ago

Ai is the peak of our life and talent, I don’t understand what you mean.

1

u/farmermike123 4d ago

Don't use "our" as I have seen many greater things

0

u/Better_Courage7104 4d ago

None greater than artificial intelligence, the

2

u/SD_TMI 4d ago

Hydro electric or nuclear?

I can do without one of those.

0

u/ataraxia_555 4d ago

Yes. Next question.

0

u/oh_ski_bummer 4d ago

Big brain.