Let’s Talk About Water, Privilege and Priorities

Water, Truth and the Industries We Want to Blame

Humanity excels at misdirection. Take for example the ongoing water conversation and AI. When I talk to people about using a large language model their first response is usually something like, “But it uses so much water.”

“Media training is doing its job!” I want to reply.

AI, the buzzword of the century, dominates headlines and takes the blame for perpetuating false news, taking away our ability to think critically thus making us cognitively lazy and now, it's burning through a precious resource like water. Convenient, isn’t it? But let’s not kid ourselves: humanity has been guzzling resources long before neural networks entered the scene.

I'm not denying that data centers… or let’s be mindful of our language, rather the companies that run those electronic info farms are water hogs. Off the top of my head some other industries come to mind like the wide world of sports or alcohol production. Did you know it takes 700+ gallons of water to make 1 jersey? Or if I do a little back-of-the-napkin math on alcohol - beer, wine and liquor production would use 7 trillion gallons annually. Of course, that math is only correct if I believe what I’m finding in online sources… Sports, alcohol and lawn care are a water sucking trifecta.

So let’s focus on the one that may not have you booing me off stage: lawns. Who reeeally needs them?

?

The Real Water Guzzler

According to the EPA, the U.S. uses 9 billion gallons of water daily for residential landscape irrigation. Half of that evaporates or runs off, thanks to inefficient systems—think of your neighbor watering their driveway.

What the eff are we irrigating? Millions of acres of useless, non-native grass. Add in pesticide, fertilizer runoff and another fun EPA factoid, 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled annually in the US (more than the Exxon Valdez spilled) while refueling lawnmowers and other lawn care equipment. That is an environmental disaster masquerading as suburban pride.

Let’s jump back to those pesky water hoggin’ AI companies. According to Google, their global operations use 5.2 billion gallons of water per year, roughly the equivalent of 8,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. If we scale that to the roughly 11,000 data centers worldwide, we’re looking at water consumption of 1.6 tillion gallons annually. Bad.

Could be more, could be less. This is all guess work as we humans like to say. Various reasons: 1. The data is from 2023. 2. Many companies are figuring out how to cool using air or gray water to operate more efficiently, knowing water is a future problem. 3. None of these companies are self-publishing these statistics. Hallucinating you would say if I was AI. ?

The EPA did gave us a figure, so if we do the simple math of 9 billion x 365 = 3.3 trillion gallons annually in the USA. Worse. A global figure would likely double that number. A nice lawn was not an American invention. The bougie elite of England and France used their neatly manicured lawns as a flex in the 1700s. ?

?

Prepare for Impact

Let’s compare societal impact, shall we?

• Data centers - They drive breakthroughs in medical research, optimize agriculture, predict droughts, of course empower individuals to write books, start businesses or even act as a mental health coach. These technologies are transformative. For better or worse.
• Lawns are a relic, a status symbol of the past, which contribute nothing to the greater good. They’re not a haven for pollinators, they don’t feed your family or community, they contribute to more water contamination. They’re a thirsty unimaginative mirage—conditioned into our culture and kept alive by industry.

To me, the cognitive dissonance is staggering.

?

Conclusion: Time to Get Real

Before we sharpen our pitchforks for AI, data centers, the corporations, maybe we should look in the mirror. Why don’t we hold ourselves accountable for our staggering water waste? Why do we expect corporations to care about anything but their bottom line? Why did we carry on with lawns and throw tea in the harbor?

Our choices ripple outward. How we treat our own patch of the planet reflects our collective priorities. If we want something better, we have to build it ourselves, literally stop watering it and while we're at it, drink one less bottle of wine. (Kudos to Gen Z for championing change around drinking culture!) We need to be honest with ourselves about letting systems crumble and having meaningful conversations about why.

Tell me what you think.

“Change the way you look at the world and the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer