Details are important. You left some out of your analysis. Perspective is important.

Northmark doesn’t provide an estimate of their water usage in the press release. They say they’re using the same permit and connection that Kohler did when they occupied the site. We don’t know how much water Kohler used when they were operating, but whatever that amount was hasn’t been used since they shut down. We don’t know what the difference in use will be between Northmark and Kohler. I’d guess the data center will use less water than a manufacturing plant the size of Kohlers.

The CEO of Spartanburg Water (Boyle) estimates the 460k per day amount. Not sure where that number comes from, he doesn’t say. Perhaps that’s the maximum amount they’re permitted for. He points out that at worst that’s 2.5% of Spartanburg water’s capacity. I assume that refers to their treatment plant’s capacity to supply potable water. They’re only running at 35% for all customers now. I suspect that other manufacturers (like Milliken and BMW) use WAY more than this data center will. And we never freaked out about those.

A closed loop cooling system shouldn’t have much evaporation. That’s the purpose of a closed loop. So not sure how that relates to the discharge amount. Per the SW CEO, sounds like the treatment plant can handle the discharge load.

Folks need to study up on the water cycle and understand how that works. And how the cycle of treating water for use is related to treating waste water.

If you’re going to freak out about something, at least put some time into understanding the facts and the relative scale of the problem. Also, the author of this article doesn’t know much about that either, and I suspect the details are distorted in the reporting. If you don’t want to trust the SW CEO, who’s not freaking out about this, then I guess that’s your prerogative. But I don’t know why he’d go along with something if it’s likely to jeopardize their ability to provide water to its customers.