The discussion
Most commenters land on the water figures being trivially small, because the article’s own framing — 13 million gallons is less than half of what Lincoln used in a single day — plus comparisons to ethanol corn, almonds and golf courses make the number look like a rounding error. The sharpest objection is that those comparisons use the wrong denominator: one commenter notes that Papillion has a twelfth of Lincoln’s population yet its data center used 42 times more water than Lincoln’s own, while another says measuring against agriculture is a red herring since food is a necessity and ethanol gets burned, not eaten. A third position agrees the water scare is overblown but calls it the wrong battle entirely — an industry-friendly distraction from the electricity side, where the disclosed 52.65 megawatt peak draw, grid strain and utility price spikes do the real damage.