Spot birds not golf
Simon Willison · Simon Willison · 2026-07-17
Simon Willison proposes that AI hyperscalers like Google offset massive data center water consumption by purchasing Coachella Valley golf courses and converting them to public parks, backing the idea with specific water-use figures.
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Extraction
Topics: ai-energy-usagedata-center-water-consumptiontech-environmental-impactsustainability
Claims
- Google consumed 10.9 billion gallons of water in 2025, equivalent to roughly 30 million gallons per day.
- Each of the Coachella Valley's 120 golf courses uses approximately 800 acre-feet (~750,000 gallons) of water per year.
- Purchasing and converting approximately 40 Coachella Valley golf courses to public parks would offset Google's daily data center water use.
- Redirecting golf club members toward birdwatching would replace a high-water-use leisure activity with a low-impact alternative.
Key quotes
Buy up a few exclusive country clubs, convert the golf courses into public parks, pay for guides and binoculars to get the previous members into birdwatching - help them embrace a more sustainable hobby!
Google used 10.9 billion gallons in 2025, so about 30 million gallons per day.
So Google buying up 40 of those courses (1/3) should do the trick.