Cam
@mostlysincere.bsky.social
By day: a water wizard making sure that it doesn't cause an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.
By night: overdosing on cricket related schadenfreude.
By night: overdosing on cricket related schadenfreude.
I work in contaminated land investigation + remediation and my thesis was on nitrate (and phosphate) transport in agricultural areas, I read this and the referenced article with interest and have some problems with both.
Thoughts below.
Thoughts below.
Everyone knows data centers use a ton of water.
What hardly anyone knows: they can poison the water that remains.
And in eastern Oregon, Amazon is doing exactly that.
What hardly anyone knows: they can poison the water that remains.
And in eastern Oregon, Amazon is doing exactly that.
November 27, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Amazon and data centres are all sorts of things - many of them bad - but I am finding it hard to take the linking of both to serious adverse health outcomes seriously here.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Amazon and data centres are all sorts of things - many of them bad - but I am finding it hard to take the linking of both to serious adverse health outcomes seriously here.
For rising nitrate concentrations over a municipal scale, the release of nitrate from the vadose zone to groundwater via infiltration stands to me as the most likely candidate for the trends in nitrate concentrations being observed here.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
For rising nitrate concentrations over a municipal scale, the release of nitrate from the vadose zone to groundwater via infiltration stands to me as the most likely candidate for the trends in nitrate concentrations being observed here.
Given the noted marginal nature of the soil in the area, over application of fertilisers over time often leads to nitrate being bound up in the vadose zone only to be released slowly and persistently into groundwater.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Given the noted marginal nature of the soil in the area, over application of fertilisers over time often leads to nitrate being bound up in the vadose zone only to be released slowly and persistently into groundwater.
Rising concentrations of nitrate in groundwater aquifers are a concern, but there is no stoichiometric effort to determine if the mass passing through a data centre is driving that concentration rise, and indeed, there are plenty of other, more likely, sources of nitrate in the area.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Rising concentrations of nitrate in groundwater aquifers are a concern, but there is no stoichiometric effort to determine if the mass passing through a data centre is driving that concentration rise, and indeed, there are plenty of other, more likely, sources of nitrate in the area.
While the author is generally correct that the concentration of the nitrate in the water leaving the data centre will have a higher concentration of nitrate than when it entered, the mass of the nitrate will remain the same. This nitrate would still be disseminated over the crops.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
While the author is generally correct that the concentration of the nitrate in the water leaving the data centre will have a higher concentration of nitrate than when it entered, the mass of the nitrate will remain the same. This nitrate would still be disseminated over the crops.
Effort is made in the article - less so in the investigation - to point the finger at Amazon's data centres poisoning or amplifying nitrate pollution in the aquifer. There is no evidence provided to support the claim that this is occurring.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Effort is made in the article - less so in the investigation - to point the finger at Amazon's data centres poisoning or amplifying nitrate pollution in the aquifer. There is no evidence provided to support the claim that this is occurring.
The article provides links to studies on nitrate's toxicity, linking it to miscarriages, kidney failure, cancers, and blue baby syndrome. Only one of those studies confirms a link (BBS) with nitrate exposure. Each of the others find confounding causes or fail to establish a causal link.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
The article provides links to studies on nitrate's toxicity, linking it to miscarriages, kidney failure, cancers, and blue baby syndrome. Only one of those studies confirms a link (BBS) with nitrate exposure. Each of the others find confounding causes or fail to establish a causal link.
Link to US EPA notes on nitrate (and nitrite) here:
archive.cdc.gov/www_atsdr_cd...
archive.cdc.gov/www_atsdr_cd...
Nitrate/Nitrite Toxicity: What Are U.S. Standards and Regulations for Nitrates and Nitrites Exposure? | Environmental Medicine | ATSDR
archive.cdc.gov
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Link to US EPA notes on nitrate (and nitrite) here:
archive.cdc.gov/www_atsdr_cd...
archive.cdc.gov/www_atsdr_cd...
The guideline values for nitrate in drinking water quoted by both reports is 10ppm (1 mg/L). This value is provided by the US EPA and is protective of infants contracting methemoglobinemia only.
The US EPA also notes that nitrate links to cancer in the literature conflict with one another.
The US EPA also notes that nitrate links to cancer in the literature conflict with one another.
November 27, 2025 at 4:47 AM
The guideline values for nitrate in drinking water quoted by both reports is 10ppm (1 mg/L). This value is provided by the US EPA and is protective of infants contracting methemoglobinemia only.
The US EPA also notes that nitrate links to cancer in the literature conflict with one another.
The US EPA also notes that nitrate links to cancer in the literature conflict with one another.
You can probably get around area permissions with an Australian VPN and an ABC iView account (for the shameless copy of the NZ version).
October 23, 2025 at 11:37 PM
You can probably get around area permissions with an Australian VPN and an ABC iView account (for the shameless copy of the NZ version).
Book excerpt above wasn't enough of an indication that we aren't talking about a telly show, eh?
September 20, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Book excerpt above wasn't enough of an indication that we aren't talking about a telly show, eh?
Incorrect.
He taught Edward Teach how to pirate, and he's basically the clubhouse leader in that racket.
He taught Edward Teach how to pirate, and he's basically the clubhouse leader in that racket.
September 19, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Incorrect.
He taught Edward Teach how to pirate, and he's basically the clubhouse leader in that racket.
He taught Edward Teach how to pirate, and he's basically the clubhouse leader in that racket.
God bless Benjamin Hornigold, I'll not hear a bad word against him.
September 19, 2025 at 10:57 AM
God bless Benjamin Hornigold, I'll not hear a bad word against him.