Preventing excessive withdrawals of water which can damage ecosystems and alter the hydrological cycle and climate.
A global overview
Water is essential for life and is widely used by agriculture, industry and households. Excessive withdrawals of water, however, can impair or even dry up lakes, rivers and aquifers, damaging ecosystems and altering the hydrological cycle and climate.
How is digital tech relevant to freshwater withdrawals?
Areas of tension
These are the issues, negative impacts and concerns collectively raised by the attendees from our pilot workshops.
For the global population
- The water needs of the digital industry are prioritised above the rights of local communities to access potable water, meaning some communities are deprived of sufficient freshwater. Causes of this are:
- Data centres consume water directly for cooling, and indirectly through the water requirements of non-renewable electricity generation.
- Manufacturing digital tech devices requires a significant amount of water.
- Mining for the raw resources needed to manufacture digital tech devices requires a significant amount of water, and also contaminates the local water table.
How can we nudge these tensions for the better?
Grounds for hope
These are visions and ideas for change collectively raised by the attendees from our pilot workshops.
For the global population
- Disincentivise wasteful industrial use of water.
- Squeezing out max use from old CPUs.
- Restore freshwater ecosystems.
Keen to learn more?
If you’d like to explore these issues yourself, either as an individual or with your work colleagues, why not run your own workshop?
Our workshop methodology is open source and available for anyone to use for free. Alternatively you can hire trusted professionals to facilitate the process on your behalf.