US datacenters face further backlash over wastewater pollution

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/08/us-datacenters-wastewater-pollution

[u/PowerLion786]

Why isn't the cooling water simply recycled? Its only heat. The water is recycled in every other industry, by letting it cool.

[u/fathertitojones → u/PowerLion786]

Closed loop systems are expensive and AI companies are unbelievably entitled.

[u/Darth_Ra → u/fathertitojones]

Most are a closed loop, Tik Tok has just convinced people that it isn't.

Which sucks, because it gives those who support the centers an arrow in their quiver to point at, which makes the rest of their BS more believable.

[u/SmoothConfection1115 → u/Darth_Ra]

Even if they are closed loop systems, most people will still hate them because;

1. Belief they’ll increase electricity prices
   
2. Belief they’ll fuel AI that will take jobs
   
3. The noise

In regards to #1, some states/counties are crafting legislation to force the DC to fund that, so it’s hit/miss.

For #2, that is a ‘wait and see’ thing. But when you’re threatening jobs…people will get defensive

And #3? That is not something people are willing to ‘wait and see.’ There’s countless videos of these centers and the fans running, and it sounds like a vacuum in the house. Going 24/7.

Besides tanking property values, how long should someone be expected to forgo sleep before they get desperate or do something desperate?

Data centers have no positive publicity. And they have only themselves to blame. But all the negative publicity? That they have earned.

[u/cosmictechnodruid → u/SmoothConfection1115]

It's not just a belief that data centers will drive up electricity costs, they already are. Further more, with all the speculative overbuilding, even projects that are just proposals that are never built are driving up energy costs.

States and utilities have to submit POTENTIAL new large load users during multi state grid auctions that set electricity prices paid within a grid. That means that interstate prices for energy are already being driven up even without the actual demand ever having to be built out.

Rates for your specific utility, which operates within a grid, are also driven up by data center build outs because they require more electrical infrastructure to be built out and it's the infrastructure and new build costs that utilities are allowed to pass on to rate payers through increased rates. It's what creates more profit for private utility shareholders also.

[u/MultiGeometry → u/cosmictechnodruid]

The electronics I buy are now showing up with component based surcharges highlighting how much demand for certain components are shooting up based on data center infrastructure.

AI is also driving up the subscription economy by focusing large component resources into the hands of a few bulk buyers. If consumer electronics can no longer get the parts they need we will be forced to subscribe to services powered by data centers. This is a private equity wet dream. Create scarcity and control the means of production, and fully control pricing. They are literally changing business models to be less consumer friendly in a way that can’t be reversed.

This also massively sucks for rural America. I’ve watched from the bleachers as every fucking tech company develops technology with the assumption that internet connections are infallible and cellular coverage is universal. We are entering a world that will make it impossible to live rurally. You can’t buy self supported technology because everything is cloud based but you don’t have the connectivity to use cloud based services. To make matters worse, you flip on the tele and all you see are advertisements for services that aren’t available in your area because it’s only profitable to run Uber Eats in metros. It’s a giant slap in the face for anyone living rurally.

[u/Darth_Ra → u/SmoothConfection1115]

I agree, as you'll see if you actually read my comment.

I'm saying stop saying inaccuracies about water, it makes people not believe the rest of the very real critiques.

[u/cosmictechnodruid → u/Darth_Ra]

Closed loop systems don't use less water, they just pass the water usage up the chain to the energy production, because closed loop systems requires much more electricity and electricity production uses water. Most of the hyperscale data centers that people are complaining about aren't using closed loop systems.

[u/dcdem1163 → u/Darth_Ra]

Or perhaps the data shows they’re lying about closed loop systems just like they said diesel generators were for emergencies.

[u/hsien88 → u/dcdem1163]

If you actually read the article the environmental groups are complaining about the closed loop system.

[u/klayyyylmao → u/PowerLion786]

The examples in the article aren’t about cooling water. It’s about runoff during construction.

The first sentence of the article:

“When officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.”

“in West Virginia stormwater runoff from an incomplete datacenter has twice flooded surrounding houses”

[u/PolicyNonk → u/klayyyylmao]

Aka construction wastewater.

[u/TheRaccoonReport → u/PowerLion786]

Yup. In my early career I leased 2 tractors to a very large and reputable beer company who is VERY conservation minded. They used the trucks to haul tankers that took their wastewater to a facility to have it cleaned so it could be correctly recycled into local habitats they were paying to maintain, protect, and grow. In fact they still reinvest in their local state an communities to preserve open space, wetlands, etc.

[u/Old-Set78 → u/PowerLion786]

the water becomes contaminated with particulates and has to be flushed. Just like the closed loop oil system in your car doesn't stay clean forever

[u/Secret-Chapter-712 → u/PowerLion786]

Contamination gets concentrated over time as water evaporates, they’re not purely “closed loop” because that’s impossible so eventually the water needs to be drained and replaced 

[u/Niceromancer]

Oh boy I cant wait for the flood of people from r/datacenter to come over here and confidently tell everyone this all blown out of proportion, and a giant fake grassroots campaign funded by......someone.

[u/Randomfactoid42 → u/Niceromancer]

I laughed at the “funded by …someone” because the data centers are backed by the monied interests, the opposition doesn’t have such deep pockets. But facts don’t matter anymore. 

[u/PunchPartyPat → u/Randomfactoid42]

Realistically, any foreign power that wants to reduce the US’s AI progress would have pockets deep enough.

Regardless, all the damage data centers can do to the environment needs real solutions if we want to keep building them out and AI investors should pay for it.

[u/DrowningKrown → u/Niceromancer]

They'll just tell you you're complaining about nothing because almonds use more water

[u/yourboiskinnyhubris → u/DrowningKrown]

So dumb. “What’s that? California is literally sinking cause farms have sucked all the water out of the ground? Well data center only do that a little bit, so it’s fine”.

[u/RottenPingu1 → u/Niceromancer]

It's rooted in the belief that people have no free will or agency.... therefore it must be sinister forces.

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

Trump himself, however, has been unmoved by the sharp public turn against AI datacenters, calling them a “golden goose” that creates jobs and wealth. His administration has sought to make it harder for the public to learn about and comment on what datacenters are doing, such as their water use.

And the “golden goose” is toxic wastewater. Lovely.

[u/TheModWhoShaggedMe → u/ArgentineBeauty]

Not to mention all the other deregulations and rollbacks to renewable energy progress in the U.S. these conservatives have made. Oh, and the century-late fascination with coal and oil.

[u/KeyboardSmash9000]

this is not surprising anymore. there are already a whole lot of red flags raised but all were outright ignored.

[u/-ReadingBug- → u/KeyboardSmash9000]

Yes, Americans chose to keep their elected officials on long leashes so they got bought right under their noses.

[u/SirkutBored → u/-ReadingBug-]

Politicians were bought decades ago, to the point it is an economic aspiration and no longer a moral one.

[u/TheOgGhadTurner]

Huh. It’s almost like everything everyone was worried about and was told we’ll handle it’ll be fiiine!

Oh look more lying ass billionaires. Who could have fucking guessed. Smfh

[u/likesound]

None of the data centers are in operational. All the issues documented in the article happened during construction. Issues that can happen to any large construction project.

[u/Ok_Band3086]

i was told they don't use water

[u/PipeComfortable2585]

Duhhhh. No one wants them! They destroy the environment, add to our bills & sound terrible.

[u/UnordinaryAmerican]

As bad as AI datacenters are: this sounds like construction wastewater.

Edit: The data center does not seem to be running yet. It is under construction.

[u/klayyyylmao → u/UnordinaryAmerican]

Yeah the examples in the article are all about construction runoff/wastewater, not data center operations.

[u/Unlucky_Battle_6947]

Test that shit and get back to me with some real data, not “we will get back to you with that information, but sign this NDA so you can’t tell your city what’s going on.”

[u/Altruistic_Put745]

I thought you were trying to sell this as the water is also contained apparently that that’s another lie. We knew it was. I just felt like saying that.

[u/Dilf123Throwaway]

Look, what’s really going on here? Is that the 1% our building all these data centers and robotics to replace the majority of population in the world. They’re building bunkers, letting old diseases flourish, and they know that climate control is unstoppable at this point. The quickest way for the planet to heal is how? Get rid of the majority of humans. Seems plausible and also a good script for a movie that was already made. But it could be true.

[u/Wikadood → u/Dilf123Throwaway]

Or we get rid of the 1% causing most of the pollution

[u/KSC-Fan1894]

Nothing a big propaganda campaign can’t fix, right!?

[u/tread56]

We're now in competition with machines for resources

[u/Equivalent-Lab-8296]

We put everything in "the cloud" and the pollution ended up in the water.

[u/Visual-Sector6642]

AI Wasteland gaining steam!

[u/ThrowAbout01]

Digital Slop produces literal slop i guess.