AI will consume as much water in 2030 as 1.3B people

https://english.elpais.com/technology/2026-06-03/ai-will-consume-as-much-water-in-2030-as-13-billion-people.html

by dnnddidiej • 2 months ago

37 22 2 months ago

english.elpais.com

rms2ds• 2 months ago

Well the way its going, we will have so much more water when the iceburg(s) start really melting so problem solved right? lol

dragonwriter• 2 months ago

Icebergs melting do not increase the supply of freshwater (Glaciers on land melting do, though perhaps not on an ongoing basis.)

FloorEgg• 2 months ago

That's nothing... at the current rate, datacenters will consume the total energy input of earth's biosphere by 2100!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GQbS34OkMF6q9r0ZyuSv...

dnnddidiej4• 2 months ago

Will they be smart enough then to build infra in space i.e. dyson. Will they do mining of other planets? And will humans be pets.

free_bip• 2 months ago

What makes you think infra in space is smart? How are you going to dissipate heat?

postalrat• 2 months ago

The sun will remain the largest consumer of water for a very long time.

codeddesign• 2 months ago

So..what you are saying is that the movie Oblivion is a documentary.

handoflixue• 2 months ago

"The operation of AI will require 14,500 square kilometres of land"

I'm always so confused by articles that try to scare you with big numbers. We have tons of land. Land is one of the few things we are not at all running out of, especially in the USA. The USA is 9,372,610 square kilometers. 1% of that is 93,000, so this is like 0.2% of the US?

It's such a transparent scare tactic, and a clear sign the article isn't interested in raising any credible concerns - just rabble rousing.

verdverm• 2 months ago

Not to mention that there are different types of water cooled data centers. We can pass regulations to force them to use the type that does not use evaporative cooling.

Does it cost more? Yes.

Can they afford it? Yes.

dnnddidiej4• 2 months ago

But will data centres tend to be near hotspots like current AWS main regions or typical edge locations like major cities. Then add all other requirements and you get that you probably stick some of that IMBY rather than in the middle of the desert.

BizarroLand• 2 months ago

I have recently reached the point of not caring about any article whose title implies that the sky is falling.

Once you see that pattern, it's everywhere. There are vast swathes of people whose livelihoods rely on terrorizing anyone whose eyeballs graze past the words they have written.

The food in their children's mouths is paid for by the fear they inspire by finding the worst possible (but not technically false) interpretation of EVERY SINGLE THING ON THE PLANET.

I have my circle of influence. Inside of the circle, I will care. I will do what I can. I will recycle. I will turn the lights off when I leave the room. I will care for the world I find myself in to the extent my arms can reach it.

Outside of that? Not my circus, not my monkeys.

damnitbuilds• 2 months ago

"B"

Because "billion" was too hard to type.

fennecbutt• 2 months ago

And how does that compare to farming almonds, alfalfa or the beef industry for your all American hamburger?

Ah, so you're a vegan? Well compare it then to the water used to produce your foods, to manufacture the van that brings you the food and the extraction of the oil that powers it.

Without context, stats about datacenter water usage are FUD bullshit.

*billion people in subsaharan Africa lovely clickbait title who needs AI for slop.

Also a site that "pay us to decline cookies" can fuck right off.

gpderetta• 2 months ago

What a strange argument. People eat food to survive. Petaflops are not very tasty.

pickleglitch• 2 months ago

What if you wrap them in bacon and deep fry them? Deep-fried bacon petaflops are a Thanksgiving tradition in my house.

dnnddidiej4• 2 months ago

Waddabaat

Rebelgecko• 2 months ago

Where does the water go, steam?

Ukv• 2 months ago

The big water usage numbers are always from including hydropower (as this report does, mentioned on page 34), so most of the water just continues on into the sea.

_aavaa_• 2 months ago

A lot of this water "usage" is actually used by the electricity generation. So it's an unfair comparison to compare to the basic water needs of a person.

metalman• 2 months ago

typical industrial scale exploitation by an out of touch moneyed class, which always results in harm and strife for the poor, though the scale of AI is without precident. 10~15% of ALL availible fresh water on the planet bieng hijacked? Realy?, uh huh!, yup, thats the plan. good luck with that.

AI will consume as much water in 2030 as 1.3B people

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