TSM, Intel fighting over water

[jms_embedded]

From the information you and the TV interview provided, it seems to me that the water supply for the City of Phoenix (and TSMC fabs) is relatively safe from the severely shortage for now. Isn't it right?

It's all relative. Like I said, I sleep well at night. If I were a farmer in Pinal County depending on CAP water for irrigation, I would not.

A few data points:

1. From the 2021 City of Phoenix Water Resource Plan, page 29. The term "on-project" refers to water from SRP's reservoirs capturing the Salt River and Verde River watersheds. (Water from SRP provided 52% of Phoenix's water supply during the 2015-2019 period, per page 22.) In a nutshell: allocation of available SRP water has decreased since 2000 as agricultural land has been converted to urban use.

Supply Availability for On-Project Demands
Historically, on-project water demand by Phoenix customers approached SRP’s full allocation of 3.0 AF per acre for shareholder lands (see Figure 12).7 However, there has been a gradual decline in SRP deliveries over time because agricultural lands, which tend to use more water on a per-acre basis than urban uses, have been replaced with urban uses as the Phoenix metropolitan area has grown. In addition, increasing water use efficiency by Phoenix customers has greatly reduced demand, so on-project demand is consistently below not only SRP’s full allocation in recent years, but even the reduced allocations experienced in 2003 and 2004. If Normal Flow deliveries are included, the gap between supplies available to Phoenix on shareholder lands and demand is even greater. The total percentage of Normal Flow utilized each year is generally around 30-40%. If rapid infill development continues on land eligible to receive this supply, there will be enough water to sustain a large amount of densification.

2. Overall historical water usage by the City of Phoenix, page 112 of 2019 Phoenix Water Resource Plan --- demand has been slightly decreasing in the past two decades, for the same reason (urban use < ag use per acre)

3. From information about the Central Arizona Project (CAP) which provided 38% of Phoenix's water supply during the 2015-2019 period (2021 Phoenix Water Resource Plan, page 22; reclaimed water provided 8% and groundwater provided the other 2%). CAP water supply is primarily a "Fourth Priority" entitlement of Colorado River water. (First priority = P1 is basically any existing usage prior to the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 which created Hoover Dam / Lake Mead. Second/Third priority = P2/P3 goes to existing usage after 1928 but prior to the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968 which authorized the CAP. P2 and P3 are identical priority but P2 covers federal wildlife refuges. Fourth = P4 is CAP and a handful of other recipients granted since 1968. Fifth and sixth are "surplus" water allocation, which may or may not be the same shown as "excess" in the diagram below.)

Some of the CAP water is P3. Most of it is P4, and within P4, the highest priority usages go to Municipal and Industrial contracts (M&I in the diagram above).

TLDR: The CAP usage that will get taken away first belongs to the agricultural users that receive "Ag Pool" and Non-Indian Agricultural water. Municipal and Industrial contracts are among the highest-priority recipients in AZ water from CAP.

CAP will get completely screwed if things get so dire that lower Colorado River water goes only to its most senior rights in the P1/P2/P3 category --- but even then, expect some horse-trading to occur for M&I customers to pay to transfer water from higher priority users. The Colorado River Indian Reservation is entitled a bit over 600,000 acre-feet in P1 with rights dating back to 1865 and 1873, but utilized only about 80% of that entitlement in 2021.

 

[cliff]

The Colorado River Indian Reservation is entitled a bit over 600,000 acre-feet in P1 with rights dating back to 1865 and 1873, but utilized only about 80% of that entitlement in 2021.

I've heard from unreliable sources that they have supplemented their water appropriations with rain dances and plan on using unused funds on casinos located next to the the new TSMC facility.

 

[hist78]

I'm wondering why Arizona is such a wonderful place to grow alfalfa in the world?

Attorney General revokes drill permits of Saudi-owned company building Arizona deep-water wells

According to Mayes, the approval of the drill permits has now been revoked. It was just eight months ago that they were approved.

www.12news.com

 

[jms_embedded]

> Attorney General revokes drill permits of Saudi-owned company building Arizona deep-water wells

Really good news. Groundwater is one of those truly common resources. Hmmm. It seems this is a complex issue and the AG does not have the authority to revoke these permits...

I'm wondering why Arizona is such a wonderful place to grow alfalfa in the world?

Attorney General revokes drill permits of Saudi-owned company building Arizona deep-water wells

According to Mayes, the approval of the drill permits has now been revoked. It was just eight months ago that they were approved.

www.12news.com

The short answer seems to be because of the heat and sun and the availability of nearby markets. The number of cuttings per year is much higher than elsewhere (as long as you have enough water) and the risk of spoilage due to rain is much lower. And dairy farms and ranches are abundant, so in most cases it doesn't have to be transported long distances.

Alfalfa, Arizona Agriculture Grows the Best!

In the Midwest, you average 2 to 4, sometimes 5, cuttings in the same field a season when growing alfalfa. In Arizona, our farmers have as many as 9 to 12 cuttings in a year.

www.azfb.org

Nationally, alfalfa is one of the most produced forage crops. But Arizona grows it the best. Yes, full disclosure, I am biased.

But let the facts speak. In the Midwest, you average 2 to 4, sometimes 5, cuttings in the same field a season. In Arizona, our farmers have as many as 9 to 12 cuttings in a year. Arizona agriculture simply knows how to grow this very healthy forage crop.

=======

Why Parched California Grows Thirsty Alfalfa

The reasons aren't as bizarre as you might think.

www.bloomberg.com

So what is to like about alfalfa? “In terms of protein per acre there’s not a crop that produces more than alfalfa,” Bowles told me. That’s because it’s a legume, like peas and beans, which also means that instead of needing nitrogen as a fertilizer it actually puts nitrogen in the ground for other crops. It’s harvested four to eight times a year and is easy to store and transport, which makes it a low-risk crop -- you’re unlikely to lose much to spoilage or bad weather. It’s also “the most wildlife-friendly crop we grow,” Bowles said. It tends to be full of tasty bugs for birds to eat and can be grown without much in the way of insecticides.

California’s alfalfa fields yield more than twice as many tons per acre as the national average, in large part because they can be cultivated year-round. It is still a relatively low-value crop, bringing in about $1,500 per harvested acre in revenue in California in recent years compared with more than $5,000 an acre for almonds. But while the drought is clearly putting pressure on alfalfa acreage, it’s hard to see it going away in California as long as the cows stick around.

=======

Arizona's Essential Alfalfa

www.azfb.org

Alfalfa is a foundational crop for agriculture across the West. Its protein and fiber content make it one of the best feeds available for livestock, including cattle. And in Arizona, this crop provides economic and environmental benefits that cannot be ignored.

Arizona Alfalfa At-a-Glance

• - Alfalfa is grown commercially in seven Arizona counties.
• - Alfalfa production in Arizona is valued at more than $468 million, putting us in the top ten states nationwide (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Information)

Why do we grow alfalfa in the desert?

• - Because of our climate, Arizona’s alfalfa yields – the amount of alfalfa grown per acre of land – are among the highest in the world.
• - Arizona consistently leads the nation in average alfalfa yields. In 2022, Arizona’s average production was 8.2 tons of alfalfa per acre, compared to the nationwide average of 3.2 tons. (Source: NASS)
• - To grow the volume of alfalfa here that we can grow anywhere else would take more land, more labor, more fossil fuel, and more water.

Alfalfa’s Ecological Benefits

• - Alfalfa promotes healthy soil. Its extensive root structure improves soil's ability to retain moisture.
• - Because alfalfa fixates nitrogen from the sky and into the soil, it decreases the need to add nitrogen fertilizer to subsequent crops.
• - It also helps prevent soil erosion, which in turn increases water-use efficiency and air quality.
• - Alfalfa serves as a perennial cover crop which reduces windblown dust contributing to improved air quality
• - Alfalfa provides habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals who are able to make their homes in alfalfa fields. This is especially true for pollinators and other beneficial insects.

Who consumes alfalfa? We all do!

• - As the “secret ingredient” to a healthy diet for cattle, alfalfa facilitates the existence of a local dairy industry.
• - In Arizona, 70% of the fluid milk we produce is purchased and consumed by local customers, including Kroger, Albertsons, Daisy Sour Cream, and Fairlife. In our grocery stores, 97% of the milk on our shelves came from an Arizona family dairy. This in turn means the product is fresher, more affordable, and had to travel less distance to go from the farm to our fridge.
• - Alfalfa is also critical for beef cattle, horses, and other livestock that are critical to the economic and cultural heritage of Arizona.

When you hear that agriculture uses 72% of the water in Arizona, it is easy to draw the conclusion that the best way to save water for growing urban populations is to take it from the largest user. In reality, though, that water is already being consumed by that urban population each and every time they sit down for a meal. Taking water from farmers does nothing more than erode the reliability of our food system and the success of a $23.3 billion industry, which rivals the economic impact of tourism to the state.

 

[migueldajer]

Aside from all the wonderful information shared in the exchanges, the reality remains the same: why build more semi plants in places where clearly water (again just look at all the exchanges) will be an issue in the future. Too many other places in the US, like hist78 pointed out,that don't have this issue. Time will tell.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

TSMC mentioned today at the TSMC Symposium that they are big on water recycling since Taiwan also has an issue with water. The target reclamation rate for AZ is 90%. Does anyone know what Intel does for water recycling?

 

[blueone]

TSMC mentioned today at the TSMC Symposium that they are big on water recycling since Taiwan also has an issue with water. The target reclamation rate for AZ is 90%. Does anyone know what Intel does for water recycling?

Unique water plant enabling Intel’s massive expansion

Intel’s Sept. 24 groundbreaking ceremony for the $20-billion expansion of the Ocotillo campus in Chandler brought out all the top officials.

www.gilbertsunnews.com

 

[nghanayem]

TSMC mentioned today at the TSMC Symposium that they are big on water recycling since Taiwan also has an issue with water. The target reclamation rate for AZ is 90%. Does anyone know what Intel does for water recycling?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...net-positive-water-3-countries.html#gs.vvhbod

By my count from the attached infographics:
13.1/(13.5+0.8) = 91.6% of clean water drawn was returned to the local communities company wide in 2021. I suppose you could also say water lost to evaporation could be counted as recycle too given it will eventually come back. However since it doesn't come back to the community I decided not to count it.

Given that projects bluestone linked and the fact that intel USA was positive while Ireland and Israel were still negative, I wonder if this 91.6% ratio is lower than what D1 and AZ do, or if those net positive water numbers for the USA are just off of the back of extensive restoration programs and sub 91.6% return efficiency.

 

[jms_embedded]

TSMC mentioned today at the TSMC Symposium that they are big on water recycling since Taiwan also has an issue with water. The target reclamation rate for AZ is 90%. Does anyone know what Intel does for water recycling?

Silicon Desert – Chipmaking in an era of water scarcity

Promoting the importance of business journalism among journalism students, giving journalists tools to improve their business coverage, and helping freelancers navigate working with a variety of publications.

businessjournalism.org

excerpt: (my emphasis; not sure exactly what "conserved" means, and this article doesn't mention how many times Intel can reuse a gallon of input water before it is discharged or used for evaporative cooling.)

=====

Intel and the city of Chandler

About 40 miles to the southeast of where TSMC is building its massive facility sits Intel’s Ocotillo campus in Chandler, where the company has been manufacturing chips for more than 50 years. Intel recently announced plans to spend $20 billion to build two more fabs on its sprawling 700-acre facility, where close to 12,000 employees work.

Linda Qian, the communications and media relations director for Intel Arizona, said the company produces a “significant amount” of its most advanced products in Arizona and the Chandler site has built-in advantages that will allow Intel to build two facilities with relative ease. “All of our factories on our Ocotillo site are actually connected, so that’s a big advantage so you can run the wafers, the manufacturing process, through those factories. So, the two new factories will be connected to the existing four factories, which does give us advantages over starting a completely new site somewhere else in the Valley.”

Intel has a relatively new 12-acre water treatment plant and reclamation plant on its Ocotillo campus (https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/fab-42-recent-announcement/#gs.zk4bnv), allowing the company to conserve, treat and reuse a great deal of the water that its factories depend on.

Like TSMC, Intel gets its water from a municipal source, in this case the city of Chandler. The city and Intel have worked closely over nearly a half-century to develop a water-management plant that allows both municipal authorities and Intel to take advantage of water supplies the city gets from both Central Arizona Project and Salt River Project
(https://www.srpnet.com/menu/water/conservation-management.aspx) (SRP).

Gregg Capps, Chandler’s utilities resources manager, said all of the water Chandler gets from Intel’s water-reclamation facility – is re-used. The site is large enough to allow Intel to build out its two new fabs without causing the city to adjust its water requirements because the company has essentially developed a closed system in which the only water lost is that which has evaporated in its cooling towers.

“So, by building this onsite facility, that has really helped them with their expansion because now they are recirculating their water in their site,” said Capps, who has been involved in water-management issues in Chandler for more than two decades. One of the keys to successful water management in the Valley, he said, is to recycle large amounts of water and then recharge or inject it back into the aquifer so that in times of drought or long-term aridification, municipalities can use more groundwater to deal with potential shortages.

Qian, of Intel, said the company uses a lot of water but also conserves a lot, pumping it to restoration projects. Of the 12,566 acre-feet of freshwater and 3,242 acre-feet of reclaimed water that Intel received from Chandler in 2020, the company discharged about 12,971 acre-feet and conserved more than 5,674 acre-feet, she said.
“So between what we took out and what we discharged, there was a difference of about two thousand megaliters (1,621 acre feet), which was lost to evaporation and irrigation, and that’s where those restoration projects in the community come into play.” Qian said Intel currently returns and restores about 95% of its freshwater withdrawals and is aiming to achieve net positive water use by 2030.

Chandler gets about 60% of its water from Salt River Project lands and about 40% from CAP, which gives it a diversified water supply. In a severe drought, that diversity could provide an advantage over companies such as TSMC, which will rely on CAP for nearly 100% of its water supply.

 

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http://csrreportbuilder.intel.com/pdfbuilder/pdfs/CSR-2020-21-Full-Report.pdf - Corporate Responsibility Report page 87

2022-2023 CSR page 108: https://csrreportbuilder.intel.com/pdfbuilder/pdfs/CSR-2022-23-Full-Report.pdf

 

[jms_embedded]

https://www.chandlernews.com/santan...cle_0cfa1a6a-e081-11ed-be7b-6b99cfaafcf7.html -- my emphasis in boldface

Intel says its expansion depended on city water​

• By Ken Sain Managing Editor
• Apr 25, 2023

Intel uses a lot of water. And it’s not just the regular water that flows through Arizona’s canal that it needs.

“We wouldn’t be here without Chandler,” said Aaron Blawn, Intel’s operations site manager. “And we couldn’t continue to grow without the City of Chandler.”

The company is wrapping up about $20 billion in new construction, building two new fabs to manufacture semiconductor chips at its Ocotillo campus. Those operations will require even more water.

“The big punch line is when [the two new manufacturing fabs] are fully ramped up, we expect to be using less water than we had on the entire site before they came,” said Blawn, one of the speakers at the Chandler Chamber of Commerce’s Policy Impact Series on April 7.

To reach that point, the company and the city have had to work together. It started in 1995, when Intel designed and built a brine removal facility to get the clean water they needed.

“The majority of our water we use is for ultra-pure water,” Blawn said.

When water travels over great distances, as it does in Arizona, it picks up a lot of minerals. That’s why Arizona has some of the hardest water in the United States.

The city’s Ocotillo Brine Reduction Facility treats more than a million gallons of water a day. It separates the brine from drinking water, returning that water back to Intel for reuse.

And that means that the city doesn’t need to send additional water to Intel, saving it for residents.

“It’s been a fantastic partnership all along,” said John Knudson, the city’s public works and utilities director.

Blawn credited Chandler for working with the company from the first day it opened its manufacturing plants in Ocotillo in the mid-1990s for the success they’ve had today.

That continues with the expansion. Part of the expansion is Intel’s new Water Treatment and Recovery (WATR) facility, which allows the company to reuse all of its water.

That means the company doesn’t need the city to provide any additional water for the two new manufacturing fabs. And that’s how Intel has been able to lower the water it will use after those fabs become operational.

Blawn said the plant allows Intel to reuse 98% of its water. The 2% they lose is to evaporation. He said the company is even working on that.

“How do you restore the watershed where there’s evaporative losses? I think we’re now over … 19 projects now that have been funded throughout the watershed of Arizona,” he said.

“A fun one that got a lot of press is up in the Camp Verde area, where we worked with the farmers to take very high, water-intense crops and convert it over to barley. That has actually spawned a microbrew industry in that part of Arizona.”

There is no set date when the fabs will come online.

City officials said they expect the construction on the Ocotillo campus to wrap up around the end of this year.

 

[jms_embedded]

Intel's definition of "conserved" water seems a little fuzzy... here's how their math works from a 2013 report, Intel Ocotillo Environmental Excellence Annual Progress Report:

They take credit for sending outgoing water to a reverse-osmosis facility they helped pay for, which gets injected into the aquifer to be pumped out later:

https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/www3/region9/waterinfrastructure/docs/Intel-Ocotillo-Arizona.pdf

Chandler RO Recharge Facility - Intel funded and spearheaded an advanced reverse osmosis water treatment facility (in partnership with the City of Chandler) to treat process wastewater from its semiconductor manufacturing or “Fab” plants at its Intel Ocotillo Campus. This process wastewater is treated to drinking water standards and returned to the underground aquifer to replenish the groundwater supply. This highly efficient process recovers, treats and returns a portion of Intel’s rinse waters to the aquifer. Through the implementation of this key strategy, Intel and the City of Chandler have been able to return more than 3.5 billion gallons of drinking quality water to the underground aquifer for eventual reuse since project inception.

Fair enough (we have several groundwater recharge projects in Chandler) but IDK how you get to consider usage of reclaimed wastewater as "conserved". So if I run a 20-acre flower farm that pays for 100,000 gallons of reclaimed water a day from the city, and I don't use any other water, that would be 100% conserved by Intel's logic... I'd give them some credit, but is using X gallons per day of reclaimed wastewater the same as recycling X gallons per day internally? The former is still consuming an external resource; the latter is not.

 

[hist78]

https://www.chandlernews.com/santan...cle_0cfa1a6a-e081-11ed-be7b-6b99cfaafcf7.html -- my emphasis in boldface

Intel says its expansion depended on city water​

• By Ken Sain Managing Editor
• Apr 25, 2023

Intel uses a lot of water. And it’s not just the regular water that flows through Arizona’s canal that it needs.

“We wouldn’t be here without Chandler,” said Aaron Blawn, Intel’s operations site manager. “And we couldn’t continue to grow without the City of Chandler.”

The company is wrapping up about $20 billion in new construction, building two new fabs to manufacture semiconductor chips at its Ocotillo campus. Those operations will require even more water.

“The big punch line is when [the two new manufacturing fabs] are fully ramped up, we expect to be using less water than we had on the entire site before they came,” said Blawn, one of the speakers at the Chandler Chamber of Commerce’s Policy Impact Series on April 7.

To reach that point, the company and the city have had to work together. It started in 1995, when Intel designed and built a brine removal facility to get the clean water they needed.

“The majority of our water we use is for ultra-pure water,” Blawn said.

When water travels over great distances, as it does in Arizona, it picks up a lot of minerals. That’s why Arizona has some of the hardest water in the United States.

The city’s Ocotillo Brine Reduction Facility treats more than a million gallons of water a day. It separates the brine from drinking water, returning that water back to Intel for reuse.

And that means that the city doesn’t need to send additional water to Intel, saving it for residents.

“It’s been a fantastic partnership all along,” said John Knudson, the city’s public works and utilities director.

Blawn credited Chandler for working with the company from the first day it opened its manufacturing plants in Ocotillo in the mid-1990s for the success they’ve had today.

That continues with the expansion. Part of the expansion is Intel’s new Water Treatment and Recovery (WATR) facility, which allows the company to reuse all of its water.

That means the company doesn’t need the city to provide any additional water for the two new manufacturing fabs. And that’s how Intel has been able to lower the water it will use after those fabs become operational.

Blawn said the plant allows Intel to reuse 98% of its water. The 2% they lose is to evaporation. He said the company is even working on that.

“How do you restore the watershed where there’s evaporative losses? I think we’re now over … 19 projects now that have been funded throughout the watershed of Arizona,” he said.

“A fun one that got a lot of press is up in the Camp Verde area, where we worked with the farmers to take very high, water-intense crops and convert it over to barley. That has actually spawned a microbrew industry in that part of Arizona.”

There is no set date when the fabs will come online.

City officials said they expect the construction on the Ocotillo campus to wrap up around the end of this year.

I don't understand why Intel doesn't reuse much more purified waste water they created at the first place? Instead Intel/Arizona injects the purified waste water into the aquifer and is still getting large amount of fresh water from Arizona water system.

It seems to me TSMC and Intel have different approaches in using the purified waster and calculating their own environment and resource impacts.

 

[blueone]

I don't understand why Intel doesn't reuse much more purified waste water they created at the first place? Instead Intel/Arizona injects the purified waste water into the aquifer and is still getting large amount of fresh water from Arizona water system.

It seems to me TSMC and Intel have different approaches in using the purified waster and calculating their own environment and resource impacts.

That's not what it says in the article you were replying to:

That means the company doesn’t need the city to provide any additional water for the two new manufacturing fabs. And that’s how Intel has been able to lower the water it will use after those fabs become operational.

 

[jms_embedded]

That's not what it says in the article you were replying to:

Water accounting can make different conclusions. I'd go by the clear facts in Intel's 2022-2023 CSR where they state how much water they are drawing from fresh and reclaimed water, and how much they are discharging. It would be nice if they made a distinction on the destination of their discharged water: is it to the RO facility as they mention in their 2011-2013 reports? or to reclaimed water?

My guess is that this magic "98%" number quoted in the Chandler News article counts discharged water favorably as "reused".

I agree with hist78; why not reuse the treated water rather than draw more fresh water?

We've all been hyperfocused on the dire problem of demand exceeding supply. But there's the opposite problem: what happens if we don't take available water that has been allocated?

- CAP water from the Colorado River -- if you don't use it, someone else will take it. If enough people don't use it, then Lake Mead would refill, which would be nice, but AZ farmers are happy to grab any excess water someone doesn't use, should there be a surplus from more senior-rights CAP consumers.

- SRP reservoirs -- if you don't use it, someone else will take it, or the reservoirs will fill, and when they fill, SRP will release water over the Granite Reef Dam (as they are doing now) and it will flow down the Salt River and into the Gila River and into the Colorado River if farmers in Yuma don't grab it. (Not sure how those water rights work, considering that the Gila River doesn't normally supply significant water.)

I'm going to guess that Chandler has a strategy of putting water into the aquifer for long-term storage to hedge against future supply availability, and it's not a bad thing (from Chandler's point of view) to use fresh water from SRP if it's available, put it through municipal/industrial customers like Intel, treat it, and recharge it into the ground.

 

[hist78]

Water accounting can make different conclusions. I'd go by the clear facts in Intel's 2022-2023 CSR where they state how much water they are drawing from fresh and reclaimed water, and how much they are discharging. It would be nice if they made a distinction on the destination of their discharged water: is it to the RO facility as they mention in their 2011-2013 reports? or to reclaimed water?

My guess is that this magic "98%" number quoted in the Chandler News article counts discharged water favorably as "reused".

I agree with hist78; why not reuse the treated water rather than draw more fresh water?

We've all been hyperfocused on the dire problem of demand exceeding supply. But there's the opposite problem: what happens if we don't take available water that has been allocated?

- CAP water from the Colorado River -- if you don't use it, someone else will take it. If enough people don't use it, then Lake Mead would refill, which would be nice, but AZ farmers are happy to grab any excess water someone doesn't use, should there be a surplus from more senior-rights CAP consumers.

- SRP reservoirs -- if you don't use it, someone else will take it, or the reservoirs will fill, and when they fill, SRP will release water over the Granite Reef Dam (as they are doing now) and it will flow down the Salt River and into the Gila River and into the Colorado River if farmers in Yuma don't grab it. (Not sure how those water rights work, considering that the Gila River doesn't normally supply significant water.)

I'm going to guess that Chandler has a strategy of putting water into the aquifer for long-term storage to hedge against future supply availability, and it's not a bad thing (from Chandler's point of view) to use fresh water from SRP if it's available, put it through municipal/industrial customers like Intel, treat it, and recharge it into the ground.

@jms_embedded

To me that "reuse" word of "Blawn said the plant allows Intel to reuse 98% of its water. The 2% they lose is to evaporation. He said the company is even working on that." is questionable. The words such as recycled, reused, reclaimed, conserved, conservation, and net positive are used frequently in many Intel's reports and interviews. Do we really know their meanings? Do those reporters and Intel spokespersons really know the difference between those words? Is TSMC's 90% target reclamation rate for AZ (per @Daniel Nenni ) based on a similar calculation as Intel's 98% does? Do they actually mean the same or similar thing?

Intel's net positive water use only tells part of the story

Chipmaker's 'water into wine' magic is just as well given low levels of water near some fab sites

www.theregister.com

In 2022 Intel Arizona bought 2,955 (not 633) million gallons of fresh water while "conserved" 3,027 million gallons. I guess the difference between them is the amount of water Intel got form non-fresh water sources outside of Intel? Does it indicate Intel is using water more efficiently than TSMC?

Explore Intel: Ocotillo Environmental Performance

Migration of ExploreIntel Flash site to HTML

www.exploreintel.com

From TSMC's ESG report, it introduced a whole set of water impact measurement matrix, such as water usage per wafer production. I'm overwhelmed! @jms_embedded, please take a look on them if you got enough sleep.

https://esg.tsmc.com/en/resources/documents.html

https://esg.tsmc.com/en/#

https://esg.tsmc.com/en/focus/greenManufacturing/waterResourceManagement.html

 

[nghanayem]

In 2022 Intel Arizona bought 2,955 (not 633) million gallons of fresh water while "conserved" 3,027 million gallons. I guess the difference between them is the amount of water Intel got form non-fresh water sources outside of Intel? Does it indicate Intel is using water more efficiently than TSMC?

Per the infrographic I sent earlier:

Intel also pulls water from other sources besides the local municipality, hence how they can reuse more water than they suck up. The "net positive water claim" is also aided by charitable works that intel does in their communities. As of 2021 at least their conserved water is the water that is reused or through process improvements was no longer needed for their operations (at least assuming I properly understand the graphic).

Clicking on that link you sent to Intel AZ, that chart shows that the 633M gal was for Q4'22. Adding them all up gives the same 2955M gal per year. Based on the numbers of JMS has dug up (98% water reuse and of that 2% replace by pulling from AZ 87% gets returned) it would seem to indicate that intel is running a more efficient operation. TSMC doing 90% reclaim (whatever that exactly means) is I think a good place to be.

 

[hist78]

‘It’s gotten really ugly.’ A community of freedom-lovers squares off against climate change in the Arizona desert » Yale Climate Connections

A legal loophole enabled residents of wildcat developments in the Rio Verde Foothills to live free from municipal taxes and regulations. But now they’re running out of water.

yaleclimateconnections.org

 

[jms_embedded]

... Rio Verde Foothills....

Oh, that. Not much sympathy, sorry. You move to Arizona without securing a long-term water supply, and you get what you get.

 

[hist78]

Oh, that. Not much sympathy, sorry. You move to Arizona without securing a long-term water supply, and you get what you get.

It's crazy to build a housing community in the desert. It's as crazy as to grow Alfalfa in Arizona just because it can make money.

In 1985:

Then in 2022: