re: AI Data centers

quote:

---

quote:
- It’s 4 million square feet. That’s 2,250 acres, roughly 70 football fields
- It’s permitted to use 23 million gallons of water PER DAY
- Estimates are saying 600 million gallons of water per year will be used
- Residents are seeing a tremendous amount of noise and bright lights

---

Who gives a shite, it provides work and jobs...Get off that high horse

quote:

---

The other travesty is that they will only use that water for cooling purposes so it should be good to put back in the environment

---

The water that has been used is too toxic to release into the environment...

quote:

---

Key Concerns Regarding Cooling Tower Emissions:Drift (Contaminant Drift): While the vapor is pure, small liquid water droplets known as "drift" can be carried out of the tower by airflow. This drift can contain concentrated dissolved solids, scale inhibitors, biocide treatment chemicals, and heavy metals.

Legionella Bacteria: The warm, moist environment of cooling towers is a known breeding ground for Legionella bacteria. Proper maintenance and chemical treatment are required to prevent the release of these bacteria into the air.

Chemical Treatment Agents: To prevent scaling and corrosion, operators use chemical treatments, including biocides (like bromine (highly toxic)or chlorine dioxide) and inhibitors, which are concentrated in the remaining water and potentially released via drift.

Discharge (Blowdown): Roughly 20–30% of the water used is not evaporated but discharged as "blowdown," which is high in concentrated contaminants and can pose a risk to local water treatment facilities.

---

quote:

---

The water that has been used is too toxic to release into the environment...
quote:
Key Concerns Regarding Cooling Tower Emissions:Drift (Contaminant Drift): While the vapor is pure, small liquid water droplets known as "drift" can be carried out of the tower by airflow. This drift can contain concentrated dissolved solids, scale inhibitors, biocide treatment chemicals, and heavy metals.

Legionella Bacteria: The warm, moist environment of cooling towers is a known breeding ground for Legionella bacteria. Proper maintenance and chemical treatment are required to prevent the release of these bacteria into the air.

Chemical Treatment Agents: To prevent scaling and corrosion, operators use chemical treatments, including biocides (like bromine (highly toxic)or chlorine dioxide) and inhibitors, which are concentrated in the remaining water and potentially released via drift.

Discharge (Blowdown): Roughly 20–30% of the water used is not evaporated but discharged as "blowdown," which is high in concentrated contaminants and can pose a risk to local water treatment facilities.

---

I worked 45 yrs in chem plants and it has been awhile since I have seen any statements as moronic as this. If this were remotely true we would be extinct by now. Every large building in every city in the world that is air conditioned has cooling towers for building AC.

Also anybody who has worked in such an industry where water is treated with chemicals like scale inhibitors and such is required by the EPA to be treated and analyzed before release to the environment and reported to the DEQ/EPA on a discharge monitoring report. We even had to do this for stormwater runoff on non production areas.

In the event that the water is docile enough it can be discharged to a municipal system for treatment then that is done for a fee and similar reporting requirements apply

data centers can create “heat island” effects Scientists say both factors have the potential to stress bees and other pollinating insects

Research emerging in 2026 suggests that large AI-focused data centers can indeed create localized "heat islands" (or "data heat islands"), raising temperatures in their immediate surroundings. This phenomenon is driven by the massive amount of waste heat generated by intensive computing and expelled by cooling systems (such as chillers and fans).

Key Findings on Data Heat Islands (2026)

Temperature Increase: A study published in March/April 2026, looking at over 8,000 data centers, found that surface temperatures in surrounding areas can rise by an average of 3.6°F, with some cases showing increases up to 16°F.

Impact Area: These thermal plumes can impact areas up to 6.2 miles (about 10 km) away from the facilities.Affected Population: The "data heat island effect" could potentially affect more than 340 million people globally.

Urban & Rural Impact: While commonly associated with urban areas, the effect is also significant in rural locations where data centers are built, potentially affecting local agriculture and water resources.

Causes and MitigationCooling Systems: The primary cause is the discharge from air-cooled condensers or cooling towers, which release heat into the atmosphere.Operational Waste: The rapid expansion of AI requires 24/7 high-power computing, which creates substantial heat as a byproduct.

Mitigation Strategies: Proposed solutions to lessen this impact include:Implementing better, more efficient cooling technologies.Designing data centers with more eco-friendly materials.Reusing waste heat for community needs, such as heating homes.Creating green buffers around facilities.Some critics suggest the heat increase is not solely from the operating equipment, but also partly due to the replacement of vegetation with concrete/asphalt during construction.

Parish has 19,600 people. This is bringing 5,000 construction jobs, 500 direct jobs and another 1,000 indirect jobs.



Those people just hit the jackpot.




Oh and the 100s of millions in investment to your infrastructure and schools.

quote:

---

There is constant loud humming and bright lights to light up your home all night. Maybe you would enjoy that.

---

So like living near the hwy?


Sound walls have been a thing for a while. And this is better than building it in a suburb. Rural you can build it and not be close to anyone.


Now, the construction noise would suck.

quote:

---

The large size of the Louisiana property gives Meta more room to buffer nearby residents than many other data centers have.

---

quote:

---

FYI, my electric utility bills were insanely cheaper in California in 2022/2023

---

Do tell.
All info out there indicates CA electric bills are 2.5x those in LA.

They reuse the same water over and over. The sky is not falling. It is a big tax base for the locals. Don’t be afraid of the future. Be afraid of those primate centers where they test weird vaccines for stuff like Ebola and the chimps get out…..that happened in Covington a few years ago……

quote:

---

Meta is paying for Entergy to build

---

quote:

---

That means the consumers are paying the cost for building.

---

quote:

---

Those people just hit the jackpot.

---

If there is a data center that builds not far from your home...your property value decreases substantially, water pressure to your home decreases and your electric and water bills are higher. There is constant humming and bright lights to light up your home all night.

quote:

---

Data center low-frequency noise and infrasound (\(<20\) Hz) can travel significant distances, often penetrating walls and windows with little attenuation. Under quiet or optimal atmospheric conditions, this hum can travel from 1,500 feet to over 3 miles from the facility.

Because this noise is characterized by its long wavelength and ability to easily penetrate structures, exposure to constant sub-audible vibrations can lead to various community and health disturbances.

Residents near large industrial sites report symptoms such as:

Sleep disturbances and fatigueHeadaches and dizziness

Unexplained physical pressure or discomfort Due to these pervasive impacts, noise analyses and zoning regulations have become increasingly common.

Yes, data centers can cause or increase tinnitus for many people. The persistent low-frequency humming and buzzing from powerful cooling systems, server fans, and backup generators often create disruptive noise and vibration pollution that damages hearing and causes stress and sleep deprivation.

Here are specific reasons why this happens:

High Noise Levels: Inside a data center, continuous noise levels frequently exceed the universally recognized threshold of 85 dB (and can reach 92–105 dB), which leads to hearing damage.

Low-Frequency Hum: Data centers are one of the few industrial facilities that generate penetrating low-frequency noise and vibrations. This constant background hum travels long distances and often results in "fight-or-flight" stress, headaches, and tinnitus for nearby residents.

Data center noise can severely affect dogs, causing profound physical distress, anxiety, and behavior changes. Because dogs have far more sensitive hearing than humans, continuous low-frequency hums and high-pitched mechanical whirs from cooling infrastructure hit them much harder

---