Oregon city drops fight to keep Google water use private [View all]

[douglas9]

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.


https://www.courthousenews.com/oregon-city-drops-fight-to-keep-google-water-use-private/