Google Cools Data Center With Bathroom Water

judgecorp writes "Google is cooling its data center in Douglas County, Georgia, using 'recycled' water that has been through the bathtubs and toilets of the surrounding community. So called 'grey' water is perfectly adequate for the data center's cooling system which relies on evaporation (the wet T-shirt effect), says Google."

Hooray for common sense.

[jeffb (2.718)]

Engineers have been considering approaches like this for ages. It's good to see it being put into practice.

As best I can tell, one of the biggest hurdles is local waste-handling laws. When we had a local drought a few years ago, we were saving wash water to put on our outdoor plants -- but that was a violation of local policy, because cooties from your dirty clothes might get into The Environment, contaminating all the bird and squirrel and cat and dog waste that's already there.

I'm sure Google's treatment policies have satisfied the local authorities, and if they're proceeding with the project, I'm sure they've found a way that's cost-effective.

Firewalls

[Kupfernigk]

My experience of firewalls and water treatment is this: that water treatment is designed and operated by some extremely professional people who know exactly what they are doing, and that this is not often the case for firewalls. Given how some firewalls are configured, the water treatment analogy would be to stop most things and restrict the flow of the water, while letting the really nasty bugs through.

OT but possibly of interest: the daughter of a friend of ours studied environmental biology at university. Her mother wondered what use it could possibly be. As a researcher into water treatment, she is now into her second paid postgraduate placement with the prospect of a very well paid international job at the end of it. Oil may be sexier, but water is actually the more important resource.

Re:Hooray for common sense.

[Anonymous Coward]

While it may sound ridiculous, it becomes less ridiculous once you remember that many states are almost all desert, and thus water collection and usage really does need a management system that wouldn't be the case elsewhere.

Re:Shit

[Anonymous Coward]

Clothes washers are somewhere between grey and black.

Fun experiment:

Create a color gradient between "grey" and "black". Then pick a color in between them. What would you call this new color?

Does the metaphor of "grey water" make more sense now?