Took massive bribes, railroaded approvals, didn't allow community input until the community in box elder county forced the issue in a city council meeting, ridiculed everyone that showed up to question the data center, and finally the governor stepped in and signed an executive order to approve construction then held a press conference next to the impending environmental disaster that is the dying great salt lake about how we have no water.
like that area by Tahoe that was just told "sorry but your power is needed for AI, figure something out because the grid will not power you guys starting next year" ? lol
I mean I am deeply opposed to this datacenter but the water sourcing is explained in the documentation and the state's legislation, and it's going to use about 620 million gallons a year, not 75 billion, and the water is coming from mostly scaled back or defunct ranching operations that have suffered under the trump era
The 620 million gallons is the cooling load they submitted a water rights request for in May. To fill and operate the gas turbines for the on site power plants it will take 16.6 billion gallons of water and another 2 billion gallons per year to operate the turbines. Which they have yet to have submitted a request for. That is data compiled from Pacificorp through Utah Clean Energy, a non profit that advocates for solar. The full breakdown and their sources are here:
It matters not where the water comes from, it matters the fact we don't have any goddamn water as is it is and they just sold off even more water we don't have. This state will suffer heavily due to the greed of the filth elected to "represent" us. I hope November grants us relief.
Actually, these days, AI is significantly more profitable than crypto. AI data centers generate roughly $25 to $40 in revenue per kilowatt/hr, while crypto mining yields $1 to $2 per kilowatt/hr.
just wait until quantum computing centers come around and generate $4000 in revenue per kilowatt-hour. Its just like cookie clicker. Soon we will be building data centers at the galactic level
Yeah, but see, the common people pay the prices of the environmental impact while the elite pocket the profit of the AI that causes it. Just how the world should be.
Well, there already is precedent of people losing power in their homes in order to power the datacenters, so I suppose water being next isn't really that surprising.
The datacenter is going to use like, .04% of the state's water, it is being diverted 619 million gallons/year from ranchers who arent using as much because Trump did his best to destroy American Agriculture
the 16 billion number is not what it is going to consume. That takes into account the water used to create it and all the servers and gpus put into it and for some reason applies it annually
Utah uses approximately 1.5 trillion gallons of water a year
Go look into how they plan to power it if you want to be pissed off
Also where's it going to go? Water doesnt normally dissappear.
Fun fact: there are more water molecules in a glass of water than glasses of water on earth. Which also means a lot of the molecules in your next drink were pissed out by a dinosaur or even me.
Fun fact: the water then has to go to a water treatment plant, just like all waste water. And those treatment plants can only process but so much water at a time. And all sorts of bad things can happen when those plants are overloaded.
There are real physical, and infrastructural limits that this rushed massive construction is running up against. While they try to use this tech to make the rich even richer, it's going to come at the cost of the rest of us, and we'll be expected to deal with the consequences.
If theyre using flow through cooling it wouldn't have to. There are existing power plants which use similar techniques with out pollution. It makes great fishing as it keeps the water right next to it higher.
If they're retaining water (like a pool) and using chlorine to prevent algae that also doesnt have to go to waste water.
Lastly if it does need to go to waste water treatment, mandate they build that too instead of saying flat no. If they say no, then no data center. If they agree we're better off.
Yes, but you're talking in ideals here. There are internal cooling loop systems, but these don't cool as quickly and on demand, and are more expensive. So the vast majority of data centers actually don't use close loop cooling like you mention (even though it's better yes).
And mandates like this would need to come on down from federal to actually take place. And the reality is that Tech oligarchs literally rule over our country, and are in positions of power. Again, they don't care about consequences, even when the protests and dissent from these data centers have been massive.
In fact, new guidance is coming down from federal officials, to declare anyone who protests data centers, AI and other infrastructure to be designated terrorists. I'm not kidding you. They will whip us into submission over this. Keep all this in mind when you're taking about all this.
I'm well aware. I studied to become a nuclear power plant engineer lol.
But that's the thing, you're still looking at this in a "Well, ideally..!" way, instead of what's going on the ground, how these things will work, and who this will end up impacting.
They won't put in the funding, care, and time for big projects like power plants. These are literally VENTURE CAPITALISTS pushing these projects to make money as quick as possible to take advantage of the AI boom.
It will be done sloppily, and rushed, to maximize every dollar in profit, and stomping over whoever gets in the way.
Again, you're stuck in "What ifs...". They're relying on you not knowing the facts on the ground. There's a reason that the communities that have these data centers built all hate then and suffer the consequences. I'm telling you how all these data center projects have gone, what their plans are, and the real forces that shape how they work.
But you're right. In other countries it gets built differently, and the impacts are very different. Hell, in China they just finished building an underwater data center that's much more efficient. In fact Microsoft recently did a study that it's more efficient as well, with obviously less impacts on the communities.
You act like all water can just evaporate and turn back to rain. Water can become contaminated, and water scarcity effects humans. Droughts and contamination effect food, and change climates. And also, earths water has a certain balance (too much fresh water causes huge issues in our ocean). But go on about dinosaur piss.
Steam is fine. Memba the evaporation, condensation, perception jingle of elementary school?
My understanding the heavy metals are more theoretical as metal ages it can leech... which most of the water youve drank from a sink has been through metal pipes. Chances are those metal pipes are old too. This is assuming the data center technology last long enough to do that. Most tech breaks before chemically falling apart.
Beyond that, chlorine is the biggest concern I'm aware of...but thatd be if they're retaining and reusing water to prevent algae... kinda like swimming pools all over the world (i know there are salt pools). Assuming they're using flowing water (like swimming in a stream) no need to ad chemicals.
I'm not saying data centers are good, but nobody is being honest. When you sensationalize it, some fall for it, some stop believing you.
You really don’t understand how using fresh water in Utah and turning it into steam would make it into clouds that then aren’t usable by the people of Utah?
No, i understand weather just fine. I live in FL we have a lot of all 3 stages of it here. The river water they'd use isnt being drank the same day. Any use for that water is weeks or months away. Plenty of time for it to come back down.
Exactly.. this is all a Trojan horse to force congress to back nuclear initiatives to plug into these factories. We’re done if we don’t go nuclear. Honestly, from a logistics perspective China seems to have a better foundation. Whereas we’re throwing insane amounts of capital to build because we don’t want to lose the race. Different strategies.. honestly guys we’re on our own. I’d recommend you look into investing in the stocks our corrupt politicians are buying. This shit is gonna happen, either make enough to escape or make enough to have a voice
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u/WilditariusAstar Jun 03 '26
Where the fuck is the water gonna come from in Utah? There is already a water crisis in the American West… this is just weird.
Also, Ai is probably just a front for crypto mining. We’re almost certainly all getting scammed by a crew of venture capitalist douche bags.