Dried-up bodies of water, droughts and fires - this is a reality that almost everyone in the world is currently facing. For example, in June we reported that Spain, Italy and France were facing a massive heatwave.

The problem is not sparing the United States either, with large corporations contributing to the tragedy there. In Arizona, people are struggling with water shortages, and Google, Microsoft and Facebook are at least partly responsible.

As Business Insider reports, there is a water shortage in the state of Arizona. The governor has put forward a plan that would prohibit the approval of new developments that are unable to secure alternative sources of water. This is all because groundwater is currently unable to provide sufficient amount of water due to current overconsumption to which big companies contribute.

Microsoft, Google and Meta’s data centres have to process huge amounts of information and while doing so they get hot and have to be cooled down in some way. Of course the easiest and quickest method of cooling is by using water. Or, more precisely, huge quantities of it.

Some time ago Google struck a deal to build one such centre in Mesa. The city guaranteed the company 1 million gallons of water per day (or about 4 million litres) to cool the facilities. Shockingly, the residents themselves only use 146 gallons per day.

There are more bad news unfortunately. Business Insider reports that the current water shortage will only get worse. Firstly, because Google has not yet completed construction of all planned facilities, and secondly, because Facebook is also still building and expanding its data centre. Water will therefore become increasingly scarce.

The journalists also point out that companies are unwisely building their data centres in deserts instead of doing so in cooler places. However, quick profits are more important to them than worsening global warming and drought. Surprised? I'm not at all.

"Unfortunately, speed often trumps the environment here. Putting data centres close to large populations is more important. The closer you are to users, the faster your internet services respond," we can read on Business Insider

When Kim Kardashian ignored water limits in the drought-stricken state of California last year, she faced being cut off from water. Perhaps it would be worth treating large corporations in a similar way? After all, the fact that ordinary people need access to running water is probably more important than the creation of big data centres. Right?

Source: Business Insider