system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do datacenters continuously use more water instead of recycling the same water in a closed loop system?
gpt
It depends on what the water is being used for.

If it's being used for cooling, it is recycled in a closed loop.  The water comes in and pulls heat out of the cooling units, then gets pumped to outside radiators with fans blowing through them.  That cools the water, then it's pumped back inside, repeat.

However, datacenters also use a lot of water to control humidity, especially in dry regions.  That water gets evaporated and added to the air, because super dry air conducts static electricity way too easy, and static electricity is bad for computers.