if they take the water and doesn't return to the source: there will be less available water in the water body, and it can lead to scarcity. If they take it and return, but at a higher temperature, or along with pollutants, it can impact the life in the water body. If they treat the water before returning, to be closest to the original properties, there will be little impact, but it means using more energy and resources for the treatment
maccam912@programming.dev 16 hours ago
What does it mean to consume water? Like it’s used to cool something and then put back in a river? Or it evaporates? It’s not like it can be used in some irrecoverable way right?
morto@piefed.social 13 hours ago
Flagstaff@programming.dev 16 hours ago
I think the point is that it evaporates and may return as rain, which is overwhelmingly acid rain or filled with microplastics and needs to be cleaned or purified again.
kibiz0r@midwest.social 16 hours ago
They need to use very pure water, and it evaporates completely, so it must be continually replenished.
Hackworth@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
Need is a strong word. There are much more efficient ways to cool data centers. They’ve just chosen the most wasteful way because it’s the cheapest (for them).
lime@feddit.nu 16 hours ago
“using” water tends to mean that it needs to be processed to be usable again. you “use” water by drinking it, or showering, or boiling pasta too.