Summary

Data centers need water to stay cool and functional, and lots of it: The larger facilities can consume as much water a day as a town of 50,000 people, and because much of the cooling involves evaporation, freshwater is often preferred. That raises serious questions about the environmental impact of the cloud compute we use to run AI queries, host photos and videos, stream music, and all the rest. Researchers are trying to get a handle on what the impacts on water usage actually are.

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