Oregon city drops fight to keep Google water use private
apnews.com
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The census population of the Dalles, about 1.5-2 hours/85 miles east of Portland on the other side of Mount Hood, is 16,043.
274.5Mgal / 16,043 people = 17,110 gallons per resident per year
As of 2015, USGS's estimated per-capita household water usage in the US is 82 gallons/day, or about 29,930 gallons/year.[1] Google adds the equivalent water use of about 9,171 residents to the Dalles, which would represent a population increase of about 57%.
> In a Nov. 21 blog posting, Google said that all of its global data centers consumed approximately 4.3 billion gallons (16.3 billion liters) of water in 2021, which it said is comparable to the water needed to irrigate and maintain 29 golf courses in the southwest U.S. each year.
Like another commenter here I'd like to know more about "consumed" - is this an amount that evaporated away, or an amount drawn from and then returned to a resovior supply - or some more complex story that falls between extremes.
> “Water consumption” is equal to (“water withdrawal” – “water discharge”). Unless otherwise noted, all water metrics above are potable water. Our reported annual water withdrawal, water discharge, and water consumption metrics do not include seawater. For these water metrics, the geographical scope includes Google-owned data centers. Water withdrawal and discharge data is based on actual metered or invoiced data when it is available. In all instances where actual data is not available, we estimate water withdrawal and discharge using industry best practices.
> This data is subject to measurement uncertainties resulting from limitations inherent in the nature and the methods used for determining such data. The selection of different but acceptable measurement techniques can result in materially different measurements. The precision of different measurement techniques may also vary. Whereas we annually obtain third-party assurance from an independent, accredited auditor for Google’s top down operational water metrics, the water metrics within this data table have not been similarly verified or assured.
Google is more secretive than Microsoft about how water's used:[2]
> Microsoft’s data centers currently use adiabatic cooling, which relies on outside air to cool down temperatures inside. It’s a system that uses less electricity than air conditioning and less water than cooling towers. But when temperatures rise above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, outside air isn’t very helpful. At that point, an evaporative cooling system kicks in, which uses water. It works like a “swamp cooler” — cooling the air by pushing it over or through water-soaked screens.
Evaporative cooling is wastewater typically discharged into sewerage, municipal or otherwise, for treatment. You can recycle it, but eventually it becomes too contaminated by the evaporation/condensation/discharge cycle for reuse OR cost-effective treatment, which can become a different form of local water system stress.[3][4]
1: (PDF) https://www.gstatic.com/gumdrop/sustainability/2022-us-data-...
2: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/27/22747394/microsoft-data-...
3: https://www.watertechonline.com/process-water/article/140741...
4: Press release caveat: https://cyrusone.com/blog-post/not-all-water-is-created-equa...
For interest, the supercomputing centre for the square kilometre array (and other astro computing | gravity projects) use groundwater cooling loops.
> CSIRO estimates that using groundwater cooling to manage supercomputer temperatures will save approximately 14.5 million litres of water during the first two years of the project, compared with using conventional cooling towers.
Would be interesting to understand if Facebook is using similar amounts of water over in Prineville (not really all that far from The Dalles...), especially given reports that central Oregon water districts are having issues with their wells...
This one describes use in cooling, and by reference to closed-loop water cooling as an alternative, I suspect that open-loop evaporative cooling towers or systems account for much of the usage. Which would suggest also that the water isn't discharged, per se, but evaporated into the local atmosphere:
Data centers that are located in central cities can use water-cooled chillers that work with the CRAH. It is also most effective for a low-humidity environment with higher temperatures and adequate water sources. It is installed within the facility that is connected with the condenser water loops. In the water-cooled chillers, the water evaporates through the cooling tower. This results in consistent demand for water to replace the evaporated one. With this, it is also referred to as an “Open Loop Cooling System”. This does not contribute to the overall data center Water Usage Effectiveness.
<https://www.akcp.com/articles/water-usage-effectiveness-towa...>