Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant

Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by swebs on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:25AM (#21223006)

>...granted Google permission Wednesday to pump 549 million gallons of water out of the ground each year to cool servers at its sprawling plant in Berkeley County.

>DHEC’s decision is the latest development in a bitter fight over whether the company should get state approval to withdraw from a major groundwater source that, critics say, is dwindling and in jeopardy of being further depleted.

Just put the warmed water back? It's not like it's being contaminated or anything.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by londons_explore on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:33AM (#21223054)

This water will be used in evaporative coolers. There won't be warmed water to return.

The water gets recycled 50-100 times, and each time a small percentage evaporates into a cloud.

The cloud really does make clouds.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by piker on Friday October 11, 2019 @08:42AM (#21223748)

Evaporative coolers in low country South Carolina? Is there a more humid place on Earth?

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by cptskippy on Friday October 11, 2019 @09:51AM (#21224323)

There won't be as soon as this plant becomes operational.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by auiya on Friday October 11, 2019 @10:17AM (#21224571)

> as soon as this plant becomes operational

It's been operational for 10+ years. https://goo.gl/maps/XLEegK3rH1AqUXpw8

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by tyingq on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:41AM (#21223093)

Like this...

https://intra.ece.ucr.edu/~sren/project/water/img/water_cool...

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by zannaxy on Friday October 11, 2019 @12:01PM (#21225617)

How clouds are made! As my friend Tanya would say to keep me cheerful near those smokestacks.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by jmknoll on Friday October 11, 2019 @10:49AM (#21224904)

What’s stopping the collection and re-condensation of the evaporated water, which can then be returned to the river.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by newnewpdro on Friday October 11, 2019 @05:38PM (#21228737)

So.. cloud formation then rain?

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by stingraycharles on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:30AM (#21223029)

I'd expect warmed groundwater will have unintended consequences for the biodiversity there; lots of essential bacteria and other small organisms would suffer.

And that is assuming they keep the groundwater as-is, without adding any additives, neutralizing the water, etc.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by black_puppydog on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:31AM (#21223035)

I have zero qualifications on that, but warming up the ground water sounds like a really good way to encourage anything living down there to rapidly multiply. And that is even if google's server cooling circulation was a sterile environment, which I highly doubt.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by igreulich on Friday October 11, 2019 @09:25AM (#21224091)

To the extant that the local news knows anything, it is being reported here that the water will be returned to circulation (for lack of a better word) via the sewer, and its treatment cycle.

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Re:Google gets OK to siphon water for South Carolina plant by zaroth on Friday October 11, 2019 @09:42AM (#21224243)

As supposed to... were they anticipating Google would be breaking down the water into component hydrogen and oxygen?

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