1. That just because a region doesn’t have enough potable water to support humans and data centers, it also doesn’t have enough potable water to support the humans alone.
2. That the temporary increase in water prices due to the new demand of the data centers will provide enough revenue to upgrade its facilities
3. Even given enough revenue to upgrade its facilities, that the utility will choose to upgrade its facilities and increase demand
4. That the downsides of a temporary increase in water prices while new facilities are built is acceptable and will not cause suffering
5. Even after new facilities are built, that the cost of those facilities will be low enough and the increase in supply large enough that water prices for humans will be lower than they were originally, even with a large and wealthy new buyer on the market.
It doesn’t feel like a very strong argument to me.
Just as an example, Loudoun County has the most data center concentration in the world by a wide margin, and also has significantly lower water prices than the Virginia average. Seems like they've been able to build out huge new water capacity for data centers and that hasn't raised househould prices, or even kept them low. https://andymasley.substack.com/i/171855599/the-county-with-...
1. That just because a region doesn’t have enough potable water to support humans and data centers, it also doesn’t have enough potable water to support the humans alone.
2. That the temporary increase in water prices due to the new demand of the data centers will provide enough revenue to upgrade its facilities
3. Even given enough revenue to upgrade its facilities, that the utility will choose to upgrade its facilities and increase demand
4. That the downsides of a temporary increase in water prices while new facilities are built is acceptable and will not cause suffering
5. Even after new facilities are built, that the cost of those facilities will be low enough and the increase in supply large enough that water prices for humans will be lower than they were originally, even with a large and wealthy new buyer on the market.
It doesn’t feel like a very strong argument to me.