My suspicion is that these data centers are using evaporative cooling. They don't pump hot water back into the source, they evaporate the water. It will eventually return as rain, but not necessarily to the same location, and most of it won't make it into the aquifer that the water was pumped out of.
I poked around just a little. It seems that evaporative cooling is one of the most popular methods. Other methods are more expensive.
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/cooling/data-center-cooling-methods-costs-vs-efficiency-vs-sustainability
Michelle Hughes
npub195…xah97
2026-05-28 16:05:38 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…8sv7
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"content": "My suspicion is that these data centers are using evaporative cooling. They don't pump hot water back into the source, they evaporate the water. It will eventually return as rain, but not necessarily to the same location, and most of it won't make it into the aquifer that the water was pumped out of.\n\nI poked around just a little. It seems that evaporative cooling is one of the most popular methods. Other methods are more expensive.\n\nhttps://www.datacenterknowledge.com/cooling/data-center-cooling-methods-costs-vs-efficiency-vs-sustainability",
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