This might be a stupid question, but I wonder why they (datacenters) can't recover the water they use especially if it's in the order of magnitude that it significantly impacts water resources in their area.
I might be missing something big here, but I am imagining water-cooled systems that transfers heat to the water, but the water is otherwise unused. This water might not be able to be fed back (to the water sources in the area) as is, but it can be cleaned up and cooled down, and then be used for other purposes, right?