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"Utah has dozens of data centers, and at least one covers 1.5 million square feet. Data centers guzzle water to keep their computers cool—and yet data about their water consumption in Utah is not readily available."
"The Lake has lost 60% of its surface area and 73% of its water. As its surface area shrinks, toxic dust is exposed, causing significant air pollution. As water flows into the Lake dwindle, salinity increases, harming brine fly and brine shrimp populations."
https://katiesinger.substack.com/p/rights-of-nature
@gerrymcgovern am I a douche for being annoyed at "Annually, the Lake averages a deficit of 1.2 million acre-feet of water" because of course Americans would never use sensible units of measurement for *anything* but time.
@gerrymcgovern I have friend in Salt Lake City and brought this up with them. And the response was completely baffling to me:
"Yeah, everyone can see that the lake is dying. You can't go there because of the constant stench of rotting shellfish. But this is the first time I've heard that it might dry out and that it would be toxic if it did. Literally nobody here talks or worries about that."
@tinyrabbit@floss.social@gerrymcgovern it may be completely dry as soon as 2028, and completely dead even before that. A city of 200k people may become uninhabitable. And they don't even know! Or care!
Then I remembered that it's exactly like the rest of the world.
@tinyrabbit it’s hard to believe. It feels like fiction. Yet here we are doing these things that are destroying our futures.
@gerrymcgovern @tinyrabbit the diversion of water from the Great Salt Lake for data centers is just the most recent poor decision. For decades Alfalfa, a very thirsty crop (~50% Utah's water), has been a primary agricultural crop in Utah. Given that it is almost entirely used as feed for cattle, another incredibly water intensive loss makes the whole situation untenable. You are right that the dangers of the Lake evaporating has been widely covered - and mostly ignored.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/11/1235980748/farmers-accused-of-drying-up-the-imperiled-great-salt-lake-say-they-can-help-sav
@tinyrabbit @gerrymcgovern
Arsenic dust blowing off a dry lakebed
will effect more than a city of 200k. 80% of the state’s population, 2.8-million live along the Wasatch Front downwind of the lake.
" Then I remembered that it's exactly like the rest of the world "
Not all of the world. This comes into effect, this autumn in Paris (which already has climate aware policies) ...
https://www.paris.fr/pages/paris-cree-une-zone-apaisee-dans-le-centre-de-la-capitale-20426