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This is super interesting. Since you seem to have inside knowledge can you compare it to agriculture?

For example: the google machine tells me that cotton production in AZ uses somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5-3.5 acre ft. water per acre. Would a large fab consume a comparable amount of water?

1 acre = 43.5k sq ft 1 acre foot = 325k gallons




In this case I can't compare it to agriculture. I don't think growing food in a desert is a good idea either.

The Intel site in Portland, OR uses ~2 Billion gallons of water per year. They claim they are bringing enough recycle capacity to save about half that.

https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2017/08/intel_wate...


That’s not much. The average family of 4 in Arizona uses about 325,000 gallons a year. So a billion gallons is equivalent to 3,000 families, or a very small town.


Doesn't smell right, you're saying a family of 4 in Arizona uses ~900 gallons a day? That's 3500L or 3.5 tons of water every day.

I mean you can flush the toilet every minute for the whole day and only use about that much water, and that's assume the toilet fills up as fast (it doesn't).


That number seems really high, but the state website seems to be at least close to that number (146gal/day/person or ~600gal/day for a family of 4).

https://new.azwater.gov/conservation/public-resources


How to use a lot of water:

a) Water the lawn (in the summer)

b) Take a long shower


c) Drain and fill your pool


It probably includes yard irrigation.


Wow! I had no idea. Thanks for the thoughtful reply




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