(The Center Square) – The global water crisis has already begun, experts say, with the United Nations reporting that 2 billion people worldwide already lack access to clean drinking water and 3.6 billion without safe sanitation.
While the situation is expected to worsen, one variable has been cast alternately as savior and stressor for the world’s water supply: artificial intelligence.
The Center Square spoke with Howard Neukrug, former commissioner and CEO of Philadelphia Water and executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Water Center, which has recently launched its Water-AI Center of Excellence in partnership with industry and utility leaders.
The collaborative effort hopes to develop sustainable practices for the use of water in AI infrastructure while also using the technology to innovate solutions for the world’s toughest water challenges.
“We’re talking about the two sides of the coin — one is water for AI, and the other is AI for water,” said Neukrug. “Making sure that the water is secure for the community is critical, of course, and something that we’re going to be looking very closely at. And the other piece of this is, how does AI transform the water business, and how do we identify water sources and protect our sources from climate change and other changes that are happening?”
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Engineers have already begun using AI to identify and reduce areas of water waste within systems. It also shows promise for developing more efficient processes for water-heavy activities like agriculture. AI is expected to improve water recycling methods and facilitate the desalination of ocean water in parts of the globe facing freshwater shortages. If wielded responsibly, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the relationship between AI and water.
For Neukrug, one of the most exciting aspects of AI development is the way it can assist engineers who already have expertise in water systems to fine-tune and test potential solutions.
“This is going to be a real change agent for us because a lot of the work that gets done happens by trial and error, so you’re trying to mimic, trying to create a digital twin of some natural operation,” said Neukrug. “How you balance all that is incredibly difficult and time-consuming, and you get into an area where you’re kind of right, kind of have the answer, but with AI, you’re able to generate so many different iterations of what you’re trying to accomplish.”
Water is far from the only field where this type of AI use has already proven to be an advantage. In an August interview, Penn professor Dr. Michael Kearns told The Center Square that he sees AI giving a leg up to budding programmers who may not have the same advantages as some of their peers. He also noted that he’s seen AI complete complex mathematical operations that can free up researchers to focus on higher-order issues.
For Amazon, which is pouring billions of dollars into the commonwealth for the development of AI infrastructure, the technology is an essential component toward their goal of being water positive by 2030, meaning they will return more water than they use to the communities where they operate. Their stewardship plan involves using real-time analysis to operate as efficiently as possible, identify leaks and eliminate waste, as well as recycling water whenever possible, and investing in projects that clean and replenish water sources for communities.
Notably, Amazon is represented in the Water AI-Center for Excellence, making good on one of the promises touted by Gov. Josh Shapiro when $20 billion data center deals were announced in Bucks and Luzerne Counties to act as environmental and educational partners in the state.
It’s a far cry from early concerns that, in addition to massive energy use, data centers stand to drain local communities of their water supply in the service of cooling. Complaints about water usage have been a major concern where centers have sprung up in hotter, drier regions.
Neukrug says that’s one of the advantages of building centers in Pennsylvania and other northern climes. Lower temperatures simply mean less cooling is required. More abundant water sources mean their use can be better accommodated depending on local conditions.
“One of the great things about the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is that there’s so much water here, but that doesn’t mean that in any one community where one of these data centers might be built that there is a lot of water,” said Neukrug. “Water and water scarcity and floods and polluted water are all global issues, but it all comes down to the specific community that you’re in and what kind of blessings or curses you have and what water you have, and how many other uses do you have for that water. It is a concern, but it has to be solved on a very local basis.”
Beyond usage, there are other concerns about the impact of AI development on the state’s water supply. Microsoft made headlines and garnered strong opposition from activists and environmentalists throughout the state when it announced the reopening of Three Mile Island as Crane Clean Energy Center in order to power its AI infrastructure.
AI and nuclear evangelists are enthusiastic about the potential to generate huge amounts of energy without carbon emissions, especially with the advent of small modular reactors changing the nature of the industry. At least two big questions, however, remain unresolved — long-term storage of nuclear waste and the devastating impact of nuclear disasters like that of Fukushima in Japan following a 2011 earthquake.
Legislators at the local, state, and federal levels have also all rallied around Pennsylvania’s abundant natural gas reserves found in the Marcellus Shale. Before concerns about the carbon emissions produced by using fossil fuels like natural gas, there are water concerns for the local community. Fracking, the method through which gas is extracted from the ground, not only requires massive amounts of water but has been known to contaminate groundwater.
Some Western Pennsylvania residents say the industry has devastated their communities and led to huge increases in cancer diagnoses and other health effects. Fracking is permanently prohibited in the Delaware River Basin, where Philadelphia – and the Center for Excellence – sit.
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Ultimately, the future of water may rest on whether groups like the Water-AI Center for Excellence are able to guide the trajectory of AI’s potential toward good and if economic forces resist the urge to capitalize on the scarcity for profit.
“The affordability of water, the idea that every human being deserves to have clean, safe drinking water and to have sanitary systems that work well is paramount, whether they can afford it or not,” said Neukrug. “How we deal with the affordability on the water side is going to be a great big issue. It is now, is today, and it’s going to continue to be as far as I can see into the future.”