I'm not sure if/how much of these (water) issues are the data centers themselves vs poor water management or other issues. Most water use in data centers should be able to be self-sufficient, mostly closed, and filtered/reusable locally... It's not like manufacturing.
Now, power usage is another story entirely and is outright concerning and should probably require a nuclear plant near some of these data centers as new construction.
> Most water use in data centers should be able to be self-sufficient, mostly closed
[Citation Needed]
My understanding is that data centers CAN use closed-loop systems. But, most don't if they're not forced to, because it costs more than evaporating towers.
According to this[1], 88% of water-cooled data-centers use open-loop evaporation towers.
"up to 85% of the water data centers use evaporates and does not return to the water supply" [2]
Most of europe has communist parties running in elections and getting non negligible scores, then alliances and seats in parliaments, municipal councils, ...
Grandstanding and misinformation on whose part? I want this to not be true (i.e. I want data centers to not be poisoning groundwater and killing us all) and I don't think that elected representatives are above misrepresenting things for political gain, but just going by the content of the article, it would appear that data centers are contaminating drinking water.
Happens at my house sometimes. And has also happened at my previous apartments. Looks exactly the same. When they do construction on water pipes some of the sediment gets in and has to be cleared by the neighborhood. She is either lying or doesn't know what she's talking about. I also guarantee she shook up the bottle before her presentation because the sediment would have settled after a few hours.
If you didn't get the point: this is a temporary thing that is normal and has nothing to do with big bad data centers. It usually clears out in about a day and its just sediment.
you missing the point that its a very temporary thing, or are you being deceived into thinking its permanent? If you are, then you are helping making my point for me.
Thanks. The dirty water is temporary, if by temporary you mean months. Do you think that disrupting water supply for more than a few hours is acceptable?
In any case, why are you defending the giant corporation doing this?
> In any case, why are you defending the giant corporation doing this?
You are just not getting it. When they add new pipes, or attach to mains, they interrupt the flow of water. When its turned backed on, the flow of water kicks up the sediment that's already in the pipes. There's probably also a little that comes in from construction. Why people don't know this I have no idea, its happened to me many times in multiple locations. It goes away in a few hours usually. Never seen it last for more than a day.
Construction affecting residents is a normal problem for local government, regulation, and civil law to deal with. Wielding it as a weapon in the moral crusade against the evils of AI is demagoguery.
lets get something strait about the scale off data centers, and how they compare to any OTHER mega INDUSTRIAL project, bieng done in a massive rush backed by massive amounts of capital with a lax, very lax, regulatory environment
we strait now?
or is it thissy that, footsy, look LOOK!, over there!
That doesn't make any sense. Data centers just use some water for water cooling of cpus, there isn't anything to pollute. If this isn't fake, its probably a broken line.
...A few weeks ago, while Congress was in recess, I visited Morgan County, Georgia, where Meta is building a massive data center campus. They are clear cutting forests and began heavy construction, including explosive blasting, and families in the area are starting to see not only their water pressure decrease, to your point about water availability, but their appliances have all stopped working because it is decimating their water quality.
They now rely on bottled water to drink and prepare meals, and nearby residents' water bills are expected to increase by 33%. In fact, I have a jar right here. This is the current drinking water in Morgan County, Georgia, right after a data center was constructed, the Meta data center was constructed.
...
It’s cheaper to use lots of water for cooling than to make a closed system where you have to cool it yourself. Easy solution is to only give them a small pipe for restrooms.
Makes plenty of sense to me, the company that profited off of the Myanmar genocide likely also doesn't care about local regulations either or the impacts on American civilians either.
> Data centers just use some water for water cooling of cpus, there isn't anything to pollute.
I wonder why they're using up and dumping all the water then. If the water was clean they'd consume none... it'd just flow through their CPU's, into tanks, and back into municipal water supply.
Isn't the water used for evaporative cooling? Not much to return then I'd assume.
Edit:
Upon looking into it, looks like a portion of it (tens of percents) becomes a concentrated fluid called "blowdown", filled with minerals from the water source, and various treatment additives used for ensuring that the thing keeps flowing and doesn't become a growth media. This does need to be flushed out periodically, and is apparently supposed to be directed towards a water reclamation plant (e.g. via the sewage system).
I don't necessarily find it a reasonable suggestion that it should be cleaned in place, although it does look like a number of DCs actually do, but obviously I do agree it should not just be dumped yolo.
I'm not sure if/how much of these (water) issues are the data centers themselves vs poor water management or other issues. Most water use in data centers should be able to be self-sufficient, mostly closed, and filtered/reusable locally... It's not like manufacturing.
Now, power usage is another story entirely and is outright concerning and should probably require a nuclear plant near some of these data centers as new construction.
My understanding is that data centers CAN use closed-loop systems. But, most don't if they're not forced to, because it costs more than evaporating towers.
According to this[1], 88% of water-cooled data-centers use open-loop evaporation towers.
"up to 85% of the water data centers use evaporates and does not return to the water supply" [2]
[1] https://intelligence.uptimeinstitute.com/sites/default/files...
[2] https://mostpolicyinitiative.org/science-note/data-center-wa...
> up to 85% of the water data centers use evaporates and does not return to the water supply
Because the water vapor undergoes antimatter annihilation in the atmosphere so the molecules disappear I suppose?
It ends up in someone's water supply, evntually, but not necessarily the water supply they got it from.
I don't read bsky due to javascript requirement.
Here are some sources that don't require js:
https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-...
https://www.commondreams.org/news/aoc-data-centers-water
https://www.rawstory.com/aoc-data-center-drinking-water/
That'll teach 'em!
Sorry people like a web experience not loaded down with a 15MB super-elite-tracking-plus custom react framework?
I agree, that's why I use this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050210102349/http://archive.nc...
> I don't read bsky due to javascript requirement.
They also openly display communist symbols that are banned in much of Europe.
Most of europe has communist parties running in elections and getting non negligible scores, then alliances and seats in parliaments, municipal councils, ...
7 out of 719 MEP seats.
Also you need to look up what is a communist symbol.
non-random source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOQ-vH5fAk8
Meanwhile, in Texas, they arrest people for documenting the water:
Woman files lawsuit after arrest for Facebook post concerning Trinidad water supply issues
https://www.fox4news.com/news/woman-arrested-facebook-post-c...
People opposed to data centres remind me of people opposed to mask wearing.
Both are attempting to dismiss something useful and important, over trivial and manageable issues.
The more people will despise AI, the better
[dead]
[flagged]
Grandstanding and misinformation on whose part? I want this to not be true (i.e. I want data centers to not be poisoning groundwater and killing us all) and I don't think that elected representatives are above misrepresenting things for political gain, but just going by the content of the article, it would appear that data centers are contaminating drinking water.
Data center construction not operation. Big difference and not an insignificant omission
Happens at my house sometimes. And has also happened at my previous apartments. Looks exactly the same. When they do construction on water pipes some of the sediment gets in and has to be cleared by the neighborhood. She is either lying or doesn't know what she's talking about. I also guarantee she shook up the bottle before her presentation because the sediment would have settled after a few hours.
I guess all the residents have to do is let their tap water settle and then make sure to not let their straw hit the bottom of the glass.
If you didn't get the point: this is a temporary thing that is normal and has nothing to do with big bad data centers. It usually clears out in about a day and its just sediment.
She spent _campaign funds_ to buy _ketamine_. How people can trust her is beyond me.
It's the title that makes it murky. Should be "AOC displays drinking water contaminated by data center construction".
And yes, when water flows from a tap into a cup it gets "shaken up" plenty.
you missing the point that its a very temporary thing, or are you being deceived into thinking its permanent? If you are, then you are helping making my point for me.
Thanks. The dirty water is temporary, if by temporary you mean months. Do you think that disrupting water supply for more than a few hours is acceptable?
In any case, why are you defending the giant corporation doing this?
> In any case, why are you defending the giant corporation doing this?
You are just not getting it. When they add new pipes, or attach to mains, they interrupt the flow of water. When its turned backed on, the flow of water kicks up the sediment that's already in the pipes. There's probably also a little that comes in from construction. Why people don't know this I have no idea, its happened to me many times in multiple locations. It goes away in a few hours usually. Never seen it last for more than a day.
Construction affecting residents is a normal problem for local government, regulation, and civil law to deal with. Wielding it as a weapon in the moral crusade against the evils of AI is demagoguery.
lets get something strait about the scale off data centers, and how they compare to any OTHER mega INDUSTRIAL project, bieng done in a massive rush backed by massive amounts of capital with a lax, very lax, regulatory environment
we strait now?
or is it thissy that, footsy, look LOOK!, over there!
CHINA!
Most of these AI datacenters need to be moved to space. For many AI uses, the resulting latency would be altogether acceptable.
nothing about data centres in space makes sense if you understand even a modicum of physics https://taranis.ie/datacenters-in-space-are-a-terrible-horri...
That doesn't make any sense. Data centers just use some water for water cooling of cpus, there isn't anything to pollute. If this isn't fake, its probably a broken line.
Rushed construction affecting well water https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o
So its nothing to do with a data center, its something any large scale building could cause.
Love how the haters conclude decisively there could not be any justification other than she’s wrong. They’ve thought of everything.
Overdrawing water from an aquifer can disturb sediment. There are many second-order effects to consider.
> its probably a broken line
Per her website (which is hosting the transcript of the interview here: https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-...) seems that the cause is known and acknowledge to be construction
"""
...A few weeks ago, while Congress was in recess, I visited Morgan County, Georgia, where Meta is building a massive data center campus. They are clear cutting forests and began heavy construction, including explosive blasting, and families in the area are starting to see not only their water pressure decrease, to your point about water availability, but their appliances have all stopped working because it is decimating their water quality.
They now rely on bottled water to drink and prepare meals, and nearby residents' water bills are expected to increase by 33%. In fact, I have a jar right here. This is the current drinking water in Morgan County, Georgia, right after a data center was constructed, the Meta data center was constructed. ...
"""
It’s cheaper to use lots of water for cooling than to make a closed system where you have to cool it yourself. Easy solution is to only give them a small pipe for restrooms.
It seems like you didnt watch the source video. The water is allegedly contaminated by the construction of a new datacenter.
Makes plenty of sense to me, the company that profited off of the Myanmar genocide likely also doesn't care about local regulations either or the impacts on American civilians either.
Burma
My bad, you right.
> Data centers just use some water for water cooling of cpus, there isn't anything to pollute.
I wonder why they're using up and dumping all the water then. If the water was clean they'd consume none... it'd just flow through their CPU's, into tanks, and back into municipal water supply.
Isn't the water used for evaporative cooling? Not much to return then I'd assume.
Edit:
Upon looking into it, looks like a portion of it (tens of percents) becomes a concentrated fluid called "blowdown", filled with minerals from the water source, and various treatment additives used for ensuring that the thing keeps flowing and doesn't become a growth media. This does need to be flushed out periodically, and is apparently supposed to be directed towards a water reclamation plant (e.g. via the sewage system).
I don't necessarily find it a reasonable suggestion that it should be cleaned in place, although it does look like a number of DCs actually do, but obviously I do agree it should not just be dumped yolo.