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n the last days The theme of high water consumption due to artificial intelligence (AI) has gone viral on social networks. Although it is not new, since it has been mentioned with the implementation of the tendency to transform photos in the famous Japanese studio animations Ghibli are flooding social networks, experts say that great affectations are being caused in the environment.
It is likely that at first glance some people do not understand the way in which AI and water stress can be related, because how is programs such as Chatgpt, Gemini and Grok can consume so much water? The answer does not seem simple with the naked eye; However, considering that millions of people around the world use these technologies servers usually overheat and how to avoid it? With a cooling system that allows you to continue your tasks without finding out and the processes to cool work based on water.
Thus, according to data from the MIT Technology Reviewwater consumption on world servers has increased 30 percent in the last five years. This same publication mentioned that to train an advanced model as these would be required about 700 thousand liters.
We cannot deny that our news is revolving around technological advances and that these, in turn, impact a large majority of the essential areas of our life, so today innovation and sustainability must, by obligation, work together.
And it is that the figures are increasingly worrying. According to a UN Habitat report, about 36 percent of the world’s population, that is, about 2,400 million people live in regions with water scarcity and 52 percent will experience a severe shortage of water around 2050.
Our country is not in a less uncomfortable position, since on average each Mexican consumes about 366 liters per day, but also this same agency states that in the valley of Mexico approximately half of the water is wasted.
Thus, the Valley of Mexico is one of the most affected. For example, at the end of January in the Official Gazette of Mexico City The list of colonies in which taxpayers of rights by the water supply in measured system, domestic or mixed system were reported, they receive the service by Tandeo; Among the most affected are Álvaro Obregón, Coyoacán, Cuajimalpa, La Gustavo A. Madero and Iztapalapa. Of course, a lot will depend on the rains and levels in the dams, but the reduction in the supply began after the first two -month period of this year.
Many are the aspects that must be analyzed and considered, since inequality on water distribution also plays an important role. For example, in information from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, it is estimated that between 12 and 15 million Mexicans are defined with the vital liquid due to lack of effective access.
Our country faces a serious problem. According to drought monitor data, with a cut of March 31 of this year, the drought covered 42.8 percent of the total extension of the territory, the most affected area being the northwest, although not exclusive to this region, since 292 municipalities with drought and 438 were counted in the abnormally dry category.
In expert information on the subject, the severe drought that Mexico has contributed to the fact that until March 15, 2025, 32 risk districts were affected with a coverage of 62 percent in 26 metropolitan areas such as Tijuana, Mexicali and Los Cabos.
Unfortunately scarcity and increase in water consumption is not recent, and it cannot be lost sight of the fact that it has even become a national security issue. And it is that the valuable blue gold has resulted in one of the causes for confrontations between increasingly cruel and marked by violence.
Although there is officially no war labeled as such by water, the Pacific Institute, in a continuous effort to understand the connections between water resources, international security has developed the chronology of the water conflict, a database updated for the last time in August 2024 in which between 2000 and 2019, 630 events and from 2020 to 2023, 785 events where the water can be: or victim.
Could Mexico and the United States join the list of countries in conflict by vital liquid? And it is that due to the low storage in the Colorado River Basin and the potential that the levels in the system dams descend to critical levels, last year the International Limit and Water Commission between Mexico and the United States (CILA) signed the act 330 Expansion of temporary measures in the Colorado River
; However, despite the reconfiguration of the cubic meters that must be delivered to the United States, there is still the doubt of whether they can be covered.
Shortage requires urgent attention, it is no longer only a hypothesis, it is a reality that unfortunately hits the most vulnerable sectors to daily, so that in addition to addressing the topic and that it is present in international agendas, immediate actions must Life as we know it so far.
* Consultant on security, intelligence, education, religion, justice and political issues
