this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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Doesn't the water evaporate and become part of the water cycle? Water can't just disappear? Maybe I'm missing something.
It would be good to cut down water usage... Not just for data centers but also for things like lawns and golf courses.
Let's go to the Dalles in lovely Oregon. There is a Google data center there that draws water from the public supplies. It draws so much in a day, that at times the need for water in the whole community outstrips the ability of infrastructure to supply water. So people in the area see their water slow or cease altogether. The water is drawn so fast and in such amounts, wells dry up as the water table drops.
Water does eventually evaporate or get discharged from said data center, but its not like adding it in is an instantaneous event. It also doesn't reenter the same system. Like picking up flour and trying to drop it back in the bag. Some ends up on your counter.
The data center in the Dalles is one hell of a story, too, for reason beyond that.
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-demands-grow-the-dalles-aims-to-pull-more-from-mount-hood-forest/
Why can't they pull water from the Columbia river? The buildings are less than 100 yards from the water.
Clean water is needed, and i suppose they wouldn't want to spend money cleaning it themselves, not sure.
I thought that myself and honestly I don't know.