Ted (the dog) Talk: Minimizing Data Center Freshwater Footprint with an Industrial Wastewater Reclaim System
February 06, 2026 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM
Lougheed Learning Commons lobby
https://potsdam.campuslabs.com/engage/event/12171736
The modern world runs on processed data, and that data requires massive amounts of electricity as well as millions of gallons of water per day to dissipate the heat generated in the process. Today, there are approximately 3,800 data centers in the United States alone, and communities have begun pushing back. Therefore, to win over the communities who rely on data centers for a seamless digital experience, wastewater reclaim will become essential to building data center resilience and to minimize potable freshwater consumption. This talk by John Rydzewski, PE, Carolla Engineers, Inc., offers a novel approach used minimize the freshwater footprint of a data center in the US by treating the cooling tower blowdown with advanced water treatment followed by a reclaim system that enables recycling 90 percent of its industrial wastewater.