this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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A.I. tools fueled a 34% spike in Microsoft’s water consumption, and one city with its data centers is concerned about the effect on residential supply (fortune.com)
submitted 1 year ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] Sconrad122@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

There is a net loss of potable water (or potable water capacity, if you prefer), which is often a capacity bottleneck before non-potable water due to the infrastructure required to generate it. However, according to a comment above, Microsoft is using evaporative coolers, which specifically work by losing water (through evaporation). It's not a 100% loss rate to the watershed, but it's not net zero either