this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
15 points (89.5% liked)

Technology

42462 readers
331 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
rs5th@beehaw.org
coldredlight@beehaw.org
SemioticStandard@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@kbin.social
remington@beehaw.org
15
AI datacenters may gulp NYC's daily water supply at peak (www.theregister.com)
submitted 5 hours ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Public water supplies in America will need billions invested to meet the peak requirements of datacenters during the hottest periods of the year, even if their overall annual consumption is relatively modest.

A study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, acknowledges that water is an efficient means of cooling for server farms, which are looking to minimize their power usage.

But it warns that the growing water demand will lead to substantial peak withdrawals, which many communities in the US do not have the capacity to supply, particularly during the hottest days of the year.

Without new water efficiencies, datacenters across America may require 697 million to 1.45 billion gallons of extra peak water capacity per day by 2030, the study estimates. This compares with New York City's daily water supply of about a billion gallons.

Not like we have any other uses for water in a rapidly heating world.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 hours ago

They could also use treated waste water for cooling the data centers instead of dumping it in the ocean.