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Writer's pictureGiulia Lallas

Is AI Surpassing Humans in Water Accessibility?

By Giulia Lallas


Picture this: you're getting ready for bed. You brush your teeth and leave a glass of water on your nightstand just in case you get thirsty during the night. In the morning, you ditch the glass and head straight to the kitchen to fill the coffee maker with water. This is an easily imaginable reality for some, but a fairytale for others. Water seems to be all around us, however, acquiring a cup of water requires a full day’s journey for many.


Someone pouring water into a plastic cup from another plastic cup on a table outside that has a few cups on it. A girl standing in the background.

Water: An Unfiltered Exhibition

Recently, I visited the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. I stumbled upon a showcase titled “Water, an unfiltered exposition.” This exhibition explored different aspects of water use worldwide and featured kid-friendly installations. A range of stations were scattered around three rooms from a composable grocery list detailing the amount of water associated with each item, to a cubicle simulating a shower with filters aimed at saving water. 


My personal favorite was the button-centered game I found when first entering the exhibition. Each button represented an object and when clicked, projected the amount of water needed to produce said object. After going through all of them, the one that stuck out was a t-shirt, which required an average of 2,500 liters of water during creation.


A visual showing a t-shirt with the exact liters of water it requires to be produced under it.
Image Courtesy of Author

Hacks to Reduce Water Consumption

Tips and tricks for limiting water consumption were strategically placed in each element of the exhibit so that kids and their parents alike could be excited at the prospect of saving water. The interactive nature of the exhibition made the hard facts more digestible and the tips more feasible. 


First and foremost, the exhibit designers highlighted the importance of collecting rainwater or shower water as you wait for it to warm up. This water can be used to water plants or wash your car. Secondly, precision was championed as a great tool to fight water waste. Thus next time you make tea or pasta, measure the water you need to add to the kettle or pot. Additionally, washing dishes in full dishwasher loads rather than by hand can lead to water reduction and less effort spent. 


A few bonus tips include choosing a shower over a bath, wearing clothes as much as possible before washing them, and turning off the tap when it’s not in use. On a city-wide level, it’s important to delegate the amount of potable water sensibly and use undrinkable water when an opportunity arises such as when filling decorative fountains.


A hand holding a green tea kettle in front of some trees.

Clean Water Accessibility & Delegation

Desalinating water is quite a complex process, making it less readily available in countries with less developed social economies and limited resource access. In fact, according to an NPR report dating back to 2023, 26% of the global population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water. 


Actor and activist Matt Damon made it his mission to reduce these evergrowing statistics. To do so, he founded Water.org, a nonprofit that supplies safe water and budget-friendly sanitation where needed. In collaboration with The Ellen Show, Damon premiered a movie that left its spectators speechless and was broadcast in the exhibition. 



Moreover, the World Bank claims that about 70% of freshwater resources are dedicated to agriculture on a global scale. The organization says that in “low-income countries, water use in agriculture accounts for 90 percent of all water withdrawals” compared to 44% in high-income nations.


Improved water delegation and global awareness of the issue are important next steps toward addressing the crisis and the unexpected factors tied behind a glass of water. 


A hand holding up a small cup half filled with water in front of a closed window.

AI Water Usage

Technology contributes greatly to worldwide water use. According to Forbes, AI consumes high amounts of water as the data centers and all the electric waste they produce as byproducts need a lot of water to be realized. This, paired with the cooling towers around the data centers to relieve heat, makes for a hefty water footprint. 


ChatGPT-4, for example, was created in Iowa and launched in March of 2023. According to the Washington Post, asking ChatGPT-4 to write a 100-word email is equivalent to pouring out a little over a bottle of water or 519 milliliters of water. Doing so once per week for a whole year requires 27 liters of water per person. This means that if one out of ten Americans composed an email using the latest version of ChatGPT once a week for a year (approx. 16 million people), it would equate to 435,235,476 liters of water.


A UC Riverside professor claims that "the concern is not only about the absolute amount of AI models’ water usage, but also about how AI model developers respond to the shared global challenge of water shortage." Training chatbots to answer questions precisely requires large amounts of energy as they have to access millions of data pieces. Tensions between local communities and AI data centers continue to rise as the centers require exceeding water levels and strip water away from farmers.


Furthermore, the Washington Post cited that data centers in areas prone to droughts risk taking this natural resource away from us. Also, data centers in very warm regions need greater levels of air conditioning to preserve the low temperature of the servers.  


An infographic showing the amount of water different activities require.
Image Courtesy of the Washington Post

At Microsoft (the partial owner of OpenAI which created ChatGPT), the global water use grew 34% from 2021-2022. Data centers, however, are not limited to AI. These centers enable us to stream Netflix shows, pay friends on PayPal, post on social media, and fuel other exponential technologies including cloud computing.


AP News confirms that "a single facility can also churn through millions of gallons of water per day to keep hot-running equipment cool."  It's important to note that the amount of water each data center uses depends on its location and the current season. Keeping all this in mind, an increasing number of companies are making promises to make their data centers greener (although often they are left unfulfilled).


AI’s research and predictability potential work on the flipside to optimize climate solutions too. Initial conversations about green AI have begun, and more sustainable AI options will arrive in the coming years, especially with responsible AI already in the works. 


A screenshot of the chatgpt homepage.

In conclusion, water education combined with sensible use, delegation, and planning make all the difference when envisioning an improved future. Share this article to spread awareness about the global water crisis now.




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