Data centre Abilene, Texas<\/p>\n
We are currently witnessing the birth of a new psy-op targeting our most vital natural resource \u2013 water. And in the coming series of articles we\u2019ll be breaking down every aspect of this emerging agenda.<\/p>\n
The chosen label for this new fear-as-control exercise is \u201cwater bankruptcy\u201d . It\u2019s a name originating in a UN report published earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The decades old grumbling rumours of a\u00a0 \u201cwater crisis\u201d just weren\u2019t scary enough you see, so just as global warming became \u201cclimate change\u201d, and then \u201cglobal heating\u201d, and now \u201cglobal boiling\u201d \u2013\u00a0 so this\u00a0 \u201ccrisis\u201d is rebooted as something irresistibly alarming.<\/p>\n The language alone is the first indicator of what we really have here.<\/p>\n The broad stroke of the \u201cwater bankruptcy\u201d narrative is:<\/p>\n \u2026and \u2013 of course \u2013<\/p>\n The\u00a0fast developing and dark reality is a plan that will use deliberately instilled fear<\/em> of water shortages to manufacture fake<\/em> water shortages, and then police, commodify and monetize the global water supply in the name of \u201cwater security\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the next big psy-op evolving before our eyes, and in this series we\u2019ll be covering every aspect of it:<\/p>\n \u2013 \u201cClimate change\u201d propaganda,<\/p>\n \u2013 Proposed legislative \u201csolutions\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 The role of surveillance technology, and<\/p>\n \u2013 The inevitable financial pay-outs for the private sector.<\/p>\n Today, in part one of this series, we\u2019ll be looking at what seems to be a tent pole of this emerging narrative \u2013 Data centres<\/em>.<\/p>\n Very recently we have seen the emergence of a rash of media scare stories on data centres. Claims about their energy consumption and water usage are suddenly flooding the information marketplace.<\/p>\n This is an odd development because data centres\u00a0would seem to represent the very beating heart of the surveillance state these outlets routinely promote.<\/p>\n The stories range from the mildly critical, as in this piece from the Times<\/a>:<\/p>\n Surge in data centres set to push water bills even higher<\/p>\n To the slightly concerned, such as this from the BBC<\/a>:<\/p>\n Scottish data centres powering AI already using enough water to fill 27 million bottles a year<\/p>\n To the quasi-apocalyptic, such as this offering from the ever-hysterical Guardian<\/a>:<\/p>\n What you see here is a wetland without water\u2019: how the datacentre boom is exacerbating Chile\u2019s mega-drought<\/p>\n Or this from Al Jazeera<\/a>:<\/p>\n AI\u2019s growing thirst for water is becoming a public health risk<\/p>\n It\u2019s no different in the US, where headlines like this<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n America\u2019s AI Boom Is Running Into An Unplanned Water Problem<\/p>\n Or this<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n AI Is Accelerating the Loss of Our Scarcest Natural Resource: Water<\/p>\n \u2026are proliferating rapidly.<\/p>\n Yes, bizarre as it seems the establishment<\/em> media are attacking the reputation of establishment<\/em> data centres.<\/p>\n And it gets even odder when you look a little closer \u2013 because virtually all the scare stories they are publishing are either wildy exaggerated, decontextualised or simply NOT TRUE.<\/p>\n So, what is the reality quotient here?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look. This Reuters article<\/a> headlines:<\/p>\n AI to double data centre power and water consumption by 2030<\/p>\n The trouble is it gives no context for what that \u201cdoubling\u201d means in comparative terms.<\/p>\n It cites the fact that data centres use\u00a0 \u201c4.5 trillion liters per year\u201d\u00a0\u2013 and that does sound<\/em> like a lot, but when we retrieve the missing context we find that total amount of water used annually by human beings is around 4 quadrillion litres<\/em><\/a>, almost 1000x times as much.<\/p>\n Meaning data centres currently account for just ~0.1%<\/em> of global water usage.<\/p>\n Sure a 2025 report estimated US-based data centres used 449 million gallons of water per day<\/a>, it didn\u2019t mention that\u00a0 manufacturing uses 15 billion<\/strong><\/a>, over thirty times as much, while the energy sector uses closer to 100 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, that scary-seeming \u201cdoubling by 2030\u201d the UN mentioned means data centres will be accounting for\u00a0just 0.2% of global water usage by 2030 \u2013 and that\u2019s supposing all domestic, agricultural and industrial usage stays exactly the same in that time<\/em> (which, of course, they won\u2019t).<\/p>\n Whatever we may think of data centres as a tool of Big Brother, it\u2019s still true that, in terms of environmental impact, farming<\/a>, manufacturing and energy production all use many times more water than they do.<\/p>\n The press also go out of their way to muddy the distinction between \u201cdirect water use\u201d and \u201cindirect water use\u201d.<\/p>\n Brief explanation about this:<\/p>\n Direct<\/em> water use would be the water you use to drink, cook, clean or bathe.<\/p>\n Indirect<\/em> water use is the water used to grow the food you eat or manufacture your clothes.<\/p>\n This is a clear distinction that the mainstream media have been disregarding when talking about the \u201cwater footprint\u201d of data centres.<\/p>\n They routinely include indirect<\/em> usage such as\u00a0\u201cwater used in the production of energy\u201d<\/a> (eg. to cool nuclear power stations or in thermoelectric plants<\/a> etc.) or in the manufacturing chips and other parts as part of the data centres\u2019 direct<\/em> usage.<\/p>\n See the recent report \u201cWater-guzzling data centres\u201d<\/a><\/em>, from Oxford University [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n Water directly used for cooling is what most data centre operators focus on, but the largest source of water usage is actually electricity generation<\/strong>. This comes from how water is heated to generate steam which turns a turbine and generates electricity. Fossil fuels and nuclear power all consume water in this way, and even hydroelectric power involves some water loss from reservoirs.<\/strong><\/p>\n Blaming data centres for water lost from hydroelectric dam reservoirs because they use some of the electricity produced? Does that make sense? And is this standard applied to every industry?<\/p>\n These and other misrepresentations\u00a0are very well broken down in this post by Andy Masley<\/a>. I recommend it to anyone interested in unpicking this strange story.<\/p>\n For example, it is commonly believed that data centres poison ground water \u2013 but again this is a distortion, because while\u00a0 they can can concentrate contaminants already present in the water via evaporation, or they can add cleaning and anti-scaling chemicals\u00a0 this is something common to virtually all industrial processes and coolant systems. There\u2019s nothing unique about the way data centres do this.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also true that many AI data centres use no water at all. Between 10% and 25% of operational data centres run air-cooling systems<\/a> using refrigeration gasses (this number was much higher as recently as 2024,<\/a> but many have switched because liquid cooling uses substantially less electricity). And many water-cooled centres use a closed loop system that reuses water repeatedly and treat it on site.<\/p>\n And no \u2013 I\u2019m not going to bat for big tech here or volunteering to down a pint of coolant run off. I\u2019m just reporting the fact that your average data centre is no better or worse for the water supply than most industrial sectors, and in fact uses far less water than most.<\/p>\n The really important question here is \u2013 why are\u00a0the media torturing the statistics and definitions\u00a0to create fear headlines about something so entrenched in the governmental control system?<\/p>\n And in fact not just the media. This strange narrative construction extends beyond the press or governmental reports <\/a>and into live-action political theatre.<\/p>\n Witness the absurd spectacle of Alexandra Ocasio Cortez waving a jam jar full of mud around congress<\/a>, screaming that data centers are making water unfit to drink:<\/p>\n During a House hearing with Assistant EPA Administrator Jessica Kramer on Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pulled out two jars of brown water she said was taken near a Meta data center in Morgan County, Georgia, after it was constructed.<\/p>\n AOC went on to describe\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fEWpVPpuYs<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CBS News (@CBSNews) May 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
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