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Water and tech: Oregon city drops fight to keep Google water use private
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Oregon-city-drops-fight-to-keep-Google-water-use-17657402.phpOregon city drops fight to keep Google water use private
By ANDREW SELSKY,
Associated Press
Updated Dec 15, 2022 2:57 p.m.
Residents of The Dalles, Oregon, should soon know how much of their water Google's data centers have been using to cool the computers inside the cavernous buildings — information that previously was deemed a trade secret.
Data centers around the world help people stream movies, store trillions of photos and conduct daily business online, but a single facility can churn through hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day. The issue is a sensitive one in The Dalles, which is experiencing a drought and where some residents have seen water levels in their wells drop.
A lawsuit by the city on behalf of Google — against Oregon’s biggest newspaper, The Oregonian/OregonLive — that sought to keep the water-use information confidential was dropped, the newspaper reported Thursday.
City officials abandoned the 13-month legal fight to keep the information secret and committed to release the company’s water consumption in future years. The California-based company has plans to potentially build more data centers in The Dalles.
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