I'm freaking the fuck out about data center's high water consumption, but there's good news! Google is actively works to replenish 120% of the freshwater it consumes across its offices and data centers by 2030. And guess what! The data center operator achieved a 64% freshwater replenishment rate, a significant increase from its previous 18% benchmark. [1]
Furthermore, Amazon made a pledge to become "water positive" by 2030. This means Amazon Web Services (AWS) commits to returning more clean water to local communities and watersheds than its global data center operations consume. And now, Amazon reached 75% of its water-positive goal!
...Other companies like CyrusOne, QTS, and Aligned leverage alternative air-chilled systems. While air-cooling requires more electricity and may drive up power usage, it eliminates or drastically reduces a data center's on-site water footprint.
Maybe everything might be okay afterall? At least in regards to the planetary environment... I share this news because it's helping to cool my stress levesl lol <3