Skip to content

Comment on The Water Footprint of AI

Comments

Whether or not you think water use is bad for AI, another aspect hard to ignore with it is that the closed loop systems are mixing PFAs into the water for closed loop systems

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/04/pfas-pol...

It’s always backwards presumption: “No testing for Pfas air or water pollution has yet been done, and companies are not required to report the volume of chemicals they use or discharge.”

I'm probably being dense, but if it's closed loop, why is that a problem?

Not the original commenter, but assuming its something along the lines of "PFAs are forever chemicals and using them in a data center is going to eventually cause issues when these data centers are taken down and the PFAs stil need to be dealt with"

Not to mention leaks or other discharging and it enters ground water

How long do you think the loop will remain closed? 10 years? 100 years? 1000 years?

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.