What Montreal's water restrictions reveal about our aging pipes — and our habits
Montreal’s call for residents to reduce water consumption this summer has raised questions about the state of the city’s water infrastructure. Experts say the need for emergency repairs is not unusual in a system as old and extensive as Montreal’s, and that the current work is a sign the city identified a proble...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/water-shortage-watermain-montreal-advisory-9.7223848?cmp=rss

Tribune editorial: The voice of the people has pushed #Utah leaders to stop and think about massive #DataCenter. Keep it up.

This is an issue that has united people across the political spectrum.

By The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board
| May 22, 2026

"The fear that a ginormous, water-guzzling, air-befouling, weather-modifying data center planned for Utah’s northwest corner was a done deal seems to be easing just a bit. It’s not hard to see why.

A handful of key state officials are now promising that, before the project actually gets built — if it ever does — the appropriate environmental reviews, with opportunities for public comment, will happen.

"That doesn’t mean that the people who have stood up to what appeared to be a pre-greased mega-project can rest easy. Vigilance and activism are what have worked so far, and will be necessary going forward. As long and exhausting as that process might be.

"It will take a lot of continual public outcry to counterbalance the monied interests pouring campaign contributions into the coffers of Utah Senate President #StuartAdams and other powerful worthies who have been pushing the plan.

"Few Utahns had any inkling that a little-known state agency called the Military Installation Development Authority (#MIDA), which Adams chairs, had put its weight behind the #StratosProject, a proposed data center that would, at full build-out, generate and consume twice as much electricity as the whole state of Utah.

"The Box Elder County Commission had to sign off on the project before the MIDA board could take over all land-use, water, energy, environmental and tax-abatement authority over the 40,000-acre project — immune from any democratic oversight.
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"Despite loud public objections, online and in person, commissioners did exactly that. Given that the land is privately owned, not part of any city and not zoned for any particular use, commissioners argued they really didn’t have the power to stop it.

"But others do."

Read more:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2026/05/22/tribune-editorial-public-outcry/

#UtahPol #KevinOLeary #WaterConsumption #HeatPollution #ResistDatacenters #WaterIsLife #ThermalPollution #HeatGeneration
#Drought #GreatSaltLake
#Environment #EnvironmentalCatastrophe #Datacenters #DatacentersSuck
#SharkTank #AISucks

Tribune editorial: The voice of the people has pushed Utah leaders to stop and think about massive data center. Keep it up.

“Vigilance and activism are what have worked so far, and will be necessary going forward,” writes The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board. “As long and exhausting as that process might be.”

The Salt Lake Tribune
great video about "AI" and water usage by Hank Green: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_c6MWk7PQc
I learned a lot and was exposed to some things totally new to me
#ai #waterconsumption #corn #ethanol #hydrology
Why is Everyone So Wrong About AI Water Use??

YouTube

#Georgia #DataCenter Secretly Used 29 Million Gallons of Water, Exposed by Residents’ Low Water Pressure

By Staff Writer
May 11, 2026

#FayettevilleGA — "A major #datacenter campus in Fayette County, Georgia, drew nearly 30 million gallons of water through unmetered connections before the issue surfaced due to complaints of low water pressure from nearby homeowners, county officials said.

"The discovery, first reported by Politico, centers on the sprawling 615-acre #QTSDataCenter development located about 20 miles south of #Atlanta. #QualityTechnologyServices (QTS), owned by #Blackstone, operates the site, which is one of the largest data center projects in the United States.

"Fayette County investigators found that the campus had been pulling water through two connections the county was unaware of and had not properly billed. As a result, QTS was issued retroactive charges totaling $147,474. County officials estimated the unmetered usage covered roughly four months, while the company maintained the period was between nine and 15 months.

"Vanessa Tigert, director of the Fayette County Water System, attributed the oversight to an administrative error that occurred during the county’s transition to smart meters. [I call BULLSHIT!]

" 'Fayette County is a suburb, it’s mostly residential, and we don’t have much commercial meters in our system anyway,' Tigert said. 'And so we didn’t realize our connection point wasn’t working.'

"A QTS spokesperson confirmed the company paid the retroactive charges immediately upon notification and said the unmetered usage stemmed from the county’s meter system upgrade.

"No fines were issued. County officials emphasized they are maintaining a cooperative relationship with the developer.

"The Fayetteville campus currently includes 13 buildings encompassing approximately 6.2 million square feet. It is part of a larger planned development that could eventually include up to 16 buildings.

"The incident highlights growing tensions nationwide over the resource demands of data centers. Communities across the U.S. have become increasingly vocal about the strain these facilities place on local water supplies and electrical grids, leading to heightened opposition to new projects.

"In a separate but related development, an Indianapolis City-County Council member’s home was shot at in April shortly after he supported rezoning for a data center project. The attack on Ron Gibson came days after a 6–2 vote approving the nearly 14-acre facility in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood."

Source:
https://www.georgiarecord.com/business-ga/2026/05/11/georgia-data-center-secretly-used-29-million-gallons-of-water-exposed-by-residents-low-water-pressure/

#ResistDatacenters #Datacenters #WaterIsLife #AISucks #DatacentersSuck #EnergyHogs #NoisePollution #WaterConsumption #Secrecy

Georgia Data Center Secretly Used 29 Million Gallons of Water, Exposed by Residents’ Low Water Pressure

Vanessa Tigert, director of the Fayette County Water System, attributed the oversight to an administrative error that occurred during the county’s transition to smart meters.

The Georgia Record

#India's #DataCentre boom confronts a looming water challenge

Nikhil Inamdar, 9 November 2025

Excerpt: "From #Chile and #Mexico to #Georgia in the #US and #Scotland, serious concerns have been raised around data centres guzzling excess water for their cooling systems and consuming vast amounts of energy at the cost of local communities.

"In an energy starved, water-scarce India, these challenges are even more accentuated.

"According to the World Bank, India has 18% of the world's population, but only 4% of its water resources, making it among the most water-stressed countries in the world.

"India's data centre water consumption, meanwhile, is expected to more than double from 150 billion litres in 2025 to 358 billion litres by 2030, putting further pressure on its water table.

"Moreover, most of India's data centres are concentrated in urban clusters like #Mumbai, #Hyderabad, #Chennai and #Bengaluru which have strong competing water needs."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr417pwek7o

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7QvxI

#Datacenters #EnergyConsumption #WaterConsumption #ClimateChange #WaterIsLife #Datacentres #WorldPol

Google, Meta, Amazon: India’s data centre boom confronts a water challenge

Energy hungry, water-guzzling data centres could affect India's decarbonisation plans, say experts.

Social media users blame AI data centres for Calgary’s water restrictions. But is there really a link?
Calgary’s recent return to water restrictions has had several social media users placing the blame on AI data centres and their massive water consumption.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/data-centre-calgary-water-restrictions-9.7123255?cmp=rss