News Roundup #7: The AI crunch
News Roundup #7: The AI crunch
AI, the Colorado River, Lake Tahoe and more.
Good morning, and welcome to Western Water Notes.
To get all my posts in your inbox, click the button to subscribe below. This newsletter is free, but if you find my work valuable and want to support it, please consider the monthly or yearly subscription plans below. You can also support my independent journalism by sharing these posts with friends or on social media. As always, drop me a line with feedback or suggestions.
1/ The AI Crunch
I’m planning to write more about the AI data crunch. But the numbers here are pretty staggering. Not the numbers showing how fast AI can generate a weird image (see above — is that even a keyboard?), a song or a movie. Not the numbers of how many questions AI can answer a minute. These are the hard numbers of physical reality.
They are the numbers that make AI work.
The last few years, between the pandemic and the energy transition, have highlighted how (dis)connected we are to the global supply chain and the many inputs that make 21st Century economies possible. Few things illustrate this more than the storage and transmission of data across the internet. We are almost all dependent on this data. It’s how I’m writing this Substack post right now and how I will stream a TV show later.
And yet, like a magic trick, we are hidden away from the physics that make this work.
That is, big data centers. Massive data centers that consume huge amounts of power and water (for cooling). As someone who has covered mining, let’s not forget about all the materials used too. Many data centers are located in some of the hottest and driest places (see Arizona, California and Nevada). Even before the boom of generative-AI, big data was placing strain on power and water. But AI has ratcheted up the tension.
This week, the L.A. Times quoted an expert who said the “California is working itself into a precarious position” and could delay, if not undermine, the state’s climate goals.
With the power story, comes a water demand story. More from the Times:
A ChatGPT-powered search, according to the International Energy Agency, consumes 10 times the power as a search on Google without AI.
And because those new chips generate so much heat, more power and water is required to keep them cool.
“I’m just surprised that the state isn’t tracking this, with so much attention on power and water use here in California,” said Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Riverside.
Ren and his colleagues calculated that the global use of AI could require as much fresh water in 2027 as that now used by four to six countries the size of Denmark.
2/ Colorado River’s largest user cuts back
The locks went on quickly.
The Desert Sun’s Janet Wilson reports that the Imperial Irrigation District — within hours of signing a massive conservation deal — installed locks on more than 1,600 gates to canals as they cut back on deliveries for the rest of the summer.
The deal between the powerful water district and the U.S. government will conserve about 700,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water through 2026. That matters because the district is the river’s single largest water user and holds priority rights. “IID has cleared enormous hurdles to make this deal happen — there is no excuse for inaction anywhere along the river,” said the district board vice chair J.B. Hamby.
But environmental justice and policy experts raised concerns that the deal was rushed through without grappling with impacts on air quality and the nearby Salton Sea.
3/ Forest Service tells Arrowhead to shut down
The U.S. Forest Service ordered Arrowhead bottled water to shut down a California pipeline diverting water from public land, according to the L.A. Times’ Ian James, who has long covered the controversial practice. Activists praised the decision as a “huge victory.”
For decades, the bottled water company has diverted water away from spring sources on federal land in the San Bernardino Mountains. Past reporting has raised questions about the validity of the company’s water rights and recently a local environmental group alleged the company was still relying on an expired permit for its diversion.
The company’s response in the article: “‘This denial has no legal merit, is unsupported by the facts, and negatively impacts the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians,’ the company said, adding that the tribe uses a portion of the water that passes through the pipeline and relies on that water for firefighting needs.”
4/ Above and below Lake Tahoe
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined members of the Nevada and California congressional delegation for the annual Tahoe Summit on Wednesday, as Amy Alonzo reported for the Nevada Independent. The theme this year was “Connecting Tahoe” and it’s an important one as Tahoe faces pressure from development and so many visitors it landed on Fodor’s no-list for 2023.
Meanwhile, a group of residents is organizing to remove lead cables at the bottom of the lake. This comes a year after AT&T backtracked on removing them at the cost of $1.2 million, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Gregory Thomas reports. The group is now looking to permit and finance the removal themselves.
5/ A coastal community’s nature-based solution
“Skate to where the puck is going to be.”
That’s the idea behind an effort to create tidal wetlands near the Santa Cruz-Monterey County borer to mitigate the flood risk caused by sea level rise, the San Jose Mercury News’ Paul Rogers reports. The project aims to demonstrate an alternative to sea walls.
More from the story:
“…the project aims to create a buffer where flood waters can move in and settle, losing their energy, protecting other nearby farmland and property like Pajaro Dunes, a collection of adjacent oceanfront homes and condominiums.
It also will create a new estuary for birds, fish and other wildlife to help make up for oceanfront wetlands that are expected to be submerged in the coming decades.”
6/ Hualapai Tribe sues over lithium test drilling
The Hualapai Tribe and Earthjustice are suing the U.S. Department of Interior over a lithium company’s plan to drill test holes on federal land, Debra Utacia Krol reported for the Arizona Republic.
In the lawsuit, the tribe says the federal government approved the exploratory drilling without fully considering their voices and weighing the impacts that test holes could have on the local aquifer and spring flow at one of its most sacred sites.
7 / A lot of Colorado River news
The Colorado River delta is showing signs of life after U.S.-Mexico deal. (Science)
Upper Colorado River Basin states are looking at how to track and receive credits for conservation and reducing demand, Aspen Journalism reports.
The AP on the state of play for Colorado River negotiations.
Nevada Current on the Reclamation commissioner’s visit to Las Vegas.
8/ Fracking wastewater
A new Southern Methodist University study confirms the connection between re-injected fracking wastewater and well blowouts, InsideClimateNews’ Dylan Baddour and the Texas Tribune’s Carlos Nogueros Ramos write.
They write that “it raises concerns about the possibility of widespread groundwater contamination in West Texas and increases the urgency to find alternative outlets for the millions of gallons of toxic wastewater that come from Permian Basin oil wells every day.”
9/ Rare fish petitioned for listing
Federal wildlife managers could add the Long Valley speckled dace — found only in warm springs and creeks in the upper Owens River watershed of the eastern Sierra — to the Endangered Species List, Chloe Baul of Courthouse News reported. The small and rare dace faces several threats from geothermal development, water diversions and climate change.
10/ Wastewater treatment
Despite “Herculean efforts,” the International Boundary and Water Commission will not meet a deadline for ensuring a wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico is complying with federal water quality rules, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Tammy Murga reports.
One other thing:
I’m excited to share “Water Bodies,” a book of essays exploring the power of water, how it shapes our experiences and our relationships to it. It’s edited by the talented Laura Paskus and now available for preorder through Torrey House Press. I’ve got an essay in there looking at the geography of water in eastern California and the western Great Basin. And I can’t wait to read the other pieces from writers all across the West.
That’s all of this newsletter. Until next time,
Daniel