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Comment by supern0va | Hacker News Reader

I think it's super cool that Olympia HS has a student run newspaper, but I don't think this is something that should be posted to HN. The only source quoted on the water issue is an EE professor from a school in California, who I am guessing is not a subject matter expert on water in Washington state.

FWIW, as a Washington resident, I can say that we're not exactly a state worrying about water shortages. We're probably one of the more reasonable places to build data centers due to cheap green energy and pretty plentiful water. Obviously, we need to manage it responsibly, but I haven't seen any evidence of looming issues here (please feel free to correct me, though).

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> I can say that we're not exactly a state worrying about water shortages.

Except we are.

> We're probably one of the more reasonable places to build data centers due to cheap green energy and pretty plentiful water.

Most of our water comes from snowpack that melts over the spring and summer. Almost every year for the last several years, snowpack has been abnormal and has affected downstream flows.

https://ecology.wa.gov/water-shorelines/water-supply/water-a...

https://www.plantmaps.com/www.plantmaps.com/www.plantmaps.co...

https://ecology.wa.gov/blog/november-2021/snowpack-washingto...

And datacenter construction has put a major strain on central Washington power and water supplies: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/pow...

> I think it's super cool that Olympia HS has a student run newspaper, but I don't think this is something that should be posted to HN. The only source quoted on the water issue is an EE professor from a school in California, who I am guessing is not a subject matter expert on water in Washington state. FWIW, as a Washington resident, I can say that we're not exactly a state worrying about water shortages. We're probably one of the more reasonable places to build data centers due to cheap green energy and pretty plentiful water. Obviously, we need to manage it responsibly, but I haven't seen any evidence of looming issues here (please feel free to correct me, though).

I agree the lack of source in TFA is less than ideal, and the author is essentially saying "just trust the professor bro".

But you have to admit it's ironic your claim has the same problem, essentially "just trust me bro".

> I think it's super cool that Olympia HS has a student run newspaper, but I don't think this is something that should be posted to HN.

Why shouldn't it? The thoughts and opinions of high schoolers matter just as much as those of adults.

Yeah, that was a classic ad hominem, addressing the author instead of the content of what's said.

I pointed out the very specific major flaw, which is that it had one not entirely relevant source, which makes sense for a high school newspaper.

I'm sure that high school journalism has some great outliers, but in general, I don't think we're the intended audience, nor that the journalistic standards are up to what we'd expect from a better source.

Did you read the article? It's six tiny paragraphs and provides hardly any actual data or reporting.

If this was a positive piece about AI of similar quality, I can't help but suspect you'd be responding differently.

> It's six tiny paragraphs and provides hardly any actual data or reporting.

That's a fair criticism that doesn't rely on the identity of the author.

It wasn't about the identity of the author. It was about the identity of the institution, which is not designed to have the rigor and other institutional structures of a proper journalistic organization.

I just meant to convey that "don't post a news piece from a high school newspaper" is a reasonable rough heuristic that might want to be applied before posting something here.

No they don’t. Do you really believe that? Maybe on certain niche issues the opinions of a HS student are useful, but mostly they are still growing into some understanding that can contribute in a meaningful way. Which means mostly their opinions are dumb and useless.

I mean, take your position to its natural conclusion: there are people who understand more than you about basically any given topic, which means your opinions are dumb and useless.

This is absolutely true for many topics. There is a threshold of expertise where opinion that does not meet that threshold has no value. There is also a large gray area where there is sufficient expertise such that the opinion might have value. And then there is some point quite bit after that where someone has sufficient expertise such that it is very important to take what they say on the subject seriously. I occupy the first two regions in almost all areas, possibly all. High school students occupy the first area almost exclusively.

> The only source quoted on the water issue is an EE professor from a school in California, who I am guessing is not a subject matter expert on water in Washington state.

>The thoughts and opinions of high schoolers matter just as much as those of adults.

But...it's not purporting to be an opinion piece. It seems intended to be a factual news article.

If this was an opinion column, I'd almost be more inclined to give it a pass.

The data centers in WA cluster in Quincy and Moses Lake in the Columbia Basin, which gets 7-9 inches of rain per year. The town of Quincy (pop ~8,200) uses groundwater at rates equivalent to a city of 30,000, and during the 2021 drought the irrigation district cut off data center pumps entirely.

You’re right that WA is a reasonable place relative to alternatives, and data center water use is a rounding error next to agriculture, but the strain is real at the municipal infrastructure level in the specific towns hosting these facilities.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/wa-cit...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/wa-bra...

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