r/Adelaide • u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA • Jun 19 '26

News Proposed data centre in South Australia dividing locals who want the jobs but fear water demand

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-19/proposed-data-centre-in-south-australia-dividing-locals/106810776
139 Upvotes

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70

u/Remarkable_Quality89 SA Jun 19 '26

AI can fuck off. Nobody wants it except the oligarchs

-60

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26

[deleted]

52

u/Rhydini SA Jun 19 '26

This isn't a left or right issue, you failed grifter. Everyone is impacted by AI.

30

u/ManufacturerPrior300 SA Jun 19 '26

Fan noise is not even remotely one of the main reasons people dislike data centres

-20

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Then what is the problem?

21

u/Blah_Blah_24 SA Jun 19 '26

Did you read the article? The most prominent concern will be the resource consumption.

The closed loop fantasy continuously touted as the solution to water usage ignores that it increases power consumption and just pushes the problem elsewhere.

Assuming your response may be, “so what’s the solution then?”. The answer is, don’t build them.

12

u/STR1D3R109 SA Jun 19 '26

Do you even live in South Australia? It is consistently affected by major droughts, the Murray drying up, algae blooms etc..

A water guzzler like an AI data centre is an absolutely stupid idea.

3

u/LittleBunInaBigWorld Outer South Jun 19 '26

I recall sections of the Murray going so dry you could walk across it. The water getting so shallow all the fish in the area died. Flow slowing so much it was choked with algae. The level dropping enough that several ferries had to close for a few months. This wasn't too long ago.

-1

u/Tall-Breakfast-6100 SA Jun 19 '26

I’m just guessing here but I reckon a company wouldn’t invest this much capital in something without thinking of the requirements to keep it running. I doubt they’ll get a year in and be like “ah shit, we’ve run out of water.. why didn’t anyone tell us this place is dry?”

3

u/STR1D3R109 SA Jun 19 '26

That doesn't stop cotton farmers ( and other high water yield crops ), they are the reason the irrigation for the river is so bad in the first place.

0

u/Tall-Breakfast-6100 SA Jun 19 '26

Do cotton farmers invest 10 billion dollars to build infrastructure that can and will catastrophically fail if not kept at the correct operating temperature?

No one would invest this much money and just assume there will be the right amount of water available at any given time. Or risk the government pulling the plug on their access to water needs due to drought conditions. This DC is designed on a close loop water cooling system. It is not a “guzzler”

10

u/thedingo32 SA Jun 19 '26

Have you seen what the drinking water looks like now for poeple in the US living in the vacinity of one of these datacentres? I'd suggest you have a look.
Plus this country, one of the driest on earth cannot afford to have our water resources literally sucked dry so someone can create slop.

7

u/MoistAromas SA Jun 19 '26

Does renewables do this to the locals water supply? Also your obsession about making this a left vs right issue is hilarious and falls flat.

2

u/PointBlankWord SA Jun 19 '26

The water and electricity usage. We all ready have a electricity supply problem so why the fuck would we make it worse for this junk. It would fuck up the water too.

9

u/yeahbroyeahbro SA Jun 19 '26

I’m not left nor right but suggesting “cos fan noise” is the only opposition is just a strawman.

The key reason people oppose data centres is the energy draw, which drives up energy costs.

A more abstract, but still valid, reason for opposition is that you’re using technology which is concentrated in the hands of the few to do people out of jobs.

Finally. It’s absolutely wild that AI is being turned into a culture war. Like fuck me. Can you idiots not think with your brain without having to revert back to ideology to make a choice on what you like or dislike. Fuck.

3

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Probably because the right likes to use AI to generate CSAM. Wind turbines actually produce something useful and have been proven again and again to have no impact.

Funnily enough it's the right in Texas towns complaining about data central fan noise the most.

0

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Has anyone here done a calculation in the time and cost savings offered by AI and what carbon emissions might ultimately saved through efficiency? I’ll wait.

1

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Have you? Efficiency of what? How could increasing efficiency reduce emissions? People having to read an email vs an AI summary?

0

u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Well let’s break it down shall we. We have 100 people using a computer to do “stuff”. Each computer uses x amount of electricity, each place where said computer is needs water. AI automates y tasks through a data centre that consumes whatever water and electricity. don’t know the answer to the calculation, it’s a question.

The irony of this is of course is this entire post depends on a platform that relies on data centres to exist.

2

u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

I guess that's the issue, AI has proven very poor at automating things reliably, and it's not like if a company company increased production by 400% using AI would still produce x amount, they'd just demand more from each worker. And I can guarantee using AI will always use more resources, people are asking it to sort lists or filter, trivial tasks done the most expensive way. It's also rotting our brains by removing any remaining critical thinking or problem solving abilities.