#3 Water Tech Weekly

ChatGPT Water Consumption / Songkran Water Festival

Author

Water Tech Weekly
April 21, 2023

Hi everyone, this is Leo and welcome to our third issue of Water Tech Weekly.

As we begin, let's take a moment to celebrate Earth Day.
Happy Earth Day to all!

📃 News:

  • Everyone is talking about AI nowadays, as it’s so hot. But have you ever considered how much water is used/consumed by ChatGPT?

    While training GPT-3 in its data centers, Microsoft was estimated to have used 700,000 liters — or about 185,000 gallons — of fresh water. That's enough water to fill a nuclear reactor's cooling tower, per Gizmodo, and the same amount that is used to produce 370 BMW cars or 320 Tesla vehicles, per the study. For more, click here.

Using these numbers, it was determined that ChatGPT would require 500 ml of water, or a standard 16.9 oz water bottle, for every 20 to 50 questions answered.

  • California wants to cover its canals - 4.000 miles in total - with solar panels, which will be the first in its space. For more, click here.

  • One of the biggest real estate companies in the United Arab Emirates, Arada, signed an agreement with water tech firms to bring a new form of sustainable water treatment to the UAE. For more, click here.

🤔 Idea of the week:

Last week, Thailand celebrated its new year with Songkran Festival, the world's largest water festival. Water plays a major role in the festival; symbolically, it washes away the previous year so people can prepare for the next one.

It sounds like a good idea as a tradition, but I have tried to understand how much water is consumed at that festival. And how important it is to have a water festival.

I found an article related to this, published in 2016.
It’s a bit old but the number might give you an idea.

A view from Songkran Festival - Euronews

The overall amount of water consumption during Songkran in Bangkok and the vicinity area is approximately 100,000m² of water each day, the equivalent of 8,333 12-tonne trucks, according to the stats of Metropolitan Waterworks Authority. (MWA)

However, water consumption in Bangkok and the surrounding area has actually fallen 10-20% during the last three Songkrans, from 2012-2015, because businesses and factories were closed.

For more, click here.

An Article from Bangkok Post - 2016

🗓️ Events:

🛠️ Others:

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