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."

Comments

Graywater vs. Blackwater

[tverbeek]

"Graywater" is water that does not contain human waste, but has been used for other purposes and isn't fit for drinking.

"Blackwater" is sewage water containing human waste (and easily confused with the mercenary business formerly owned by Erik Prince).

Re:Graywater vs. Blackwater

[jbengt]

"Graywater" is water that does not contain human waste, but has been used for other purposes and isn't fit for drinking.
"Blackwater" is sewage water containing human waste (and easily confused with the mercenary business formerly owned by Erik Prince).

Exactly.

Of course, if you read TPWFA (The Poorly Worded Fine Article), you'll find that they are using neither grey water nor black water, they're using treated effluent from the local sewage treatment plant, which should largely be free of solids and possibly decontaminated (in Chicago, anyway, there's a controversy brewing because the treated water dumped into the river is full of nasty bacteria). They will have to treat it further - even clean, potable water needs to be treated when using it in a cooling system in order to prevent fouling of the equipment and possible microbiological growth. Then, as the article says, it gets treated again before it is dumped into the river, since the water accumulates dissolved minerals and other solids and because the treatment chemicals added may themselves be bad for the environment.

Black vs Grey vs Treated

[zenyu]

I'm no potty expert, but I thought that water that is output from a toilet is called black water, water collected from the bathtub, and kitchen are called grey water, and what they are actually using is called treated water.

Am I just behind the times on the terminology or is the article's writer just being sloppy?

Re:Shit

[MightyYar]

The summary (and Google) are being misleading here. This is treated sewage that would have been otherwise dumped in the local river - thus it is almost drinkable, and almost certainly cleaner than the river water itself. "Greywater" usually describes untreated sewage from non-toilet sources (showers, sinks, dishwashers, clothes washers).