[austinkhale]

Per the article, all current European data centers used 62 million cubic meters of water for 2024. That is 3.4% of only Spain's existing desalination capacity (≈1.8 billion m³/yr).

Seems like this is solvable:

1. Keep rolling out the closed-loop cooling improvements now appearing in new DC designs.

2. Add more desal capacity where it’s cheap (sunny coastlines + renewables) to cover the residual demand.

Sources: - https://aedyr.com/plantas-desaladoras-agua-salobre-espana/

[leapingdog]

If the data centre is coastal then desalination might be an extra step. A salt water heat exchanger might do the job.