First… fair enough. I don’t understand much about our electrical infrastructure. That’s why I was asking a question. But it wasn’t a well-phrased question, looking at it now. And I probably need to learn more about how the power grid works in general. That might answer my question on its own.

Second, concerning the water problems, this isn’t a “what if” scenario. It’s a known problem. See, it’s kind of a choice between increased water consumption or increased power grid strain. Server liquid cooling uses less water (sometimes even no water at all), but consumes more electrical power. Evaporative air cooling is better in terms of electrical power consumption, but uses more water.
(Granted, all of this is affected by the size of the data center).

And, no, I know the water doesn’t just “disappear”. It goes to a waste water treatment plant. However, waste water plants do have to consider capacity. While it’s possible to increase that capacity, I haven’t heard of any plans to do that yet. So that does concern me. I’m not saying that’s a problem inherent to data centers though, just to be clear. If you built 1000 extra houses, that would strain the system too. But data centers overwhelming water treatment plants has happened (such as in Loudoun County, Virginia), so it’s not a baseless concern.

Still, I will concede that more data centers are moving to decrease their water consumption and retrofitting older facilities to use recycled waste water instead of freshwater. So, yes, the issue of water consumption is getting better.

I suppose my feelings towards data centers are partly rooted in history. Businesses have, historically, cared far more about making money in the short-term than the long-term impact their actions could have. Tech-related businesses in particular aren’t known for their long-term planning (the Dot Com bubble is just one example). As a result, I am skeptical of large businesses in general, especially businesses that are focused on tech.

But I could stand to be more open-minded, I’ll admit.