The Cost of Water in the Data Center

A high percentage of today's data centers use water-based cooling methods to keep them from becoming the equivalent of a Hopi sweatbox in the desert. Although evaporative cooling, whether through traditional towers or “advanced” adiabatic cooling systems (aka swamp coolers), remain highly effective cooling methods, when you're planning a new data center you may want to consider the impact of the weather and water availability on your decision.