Prediction◆Article
Google buying up 40 of the Coachella Valley's 120 golf courses (one-third) would offset its daily water usage.
The author concludes their back-of-envelope calculation by suggesting Google could offset its water footprint by buying about a third of Coachella Valley's golf courses. ✦ AI generated
Author · Simon Willison's Weblog · 2026-07-17 · original ↗
So Google buying up 40 of those courses (1/3) should do the trick.
Read full article ↗excerpt · fair-use quotation
- ·Coachella Valley has 120 golf courses total
- ·Buying 40 courses (1/3) offsets Google's daily water use
- ·Simple back-of-envelope water math from the author
- ·40 of 120 courses equals one-third
- ·Golf course water use approximates Google's footprint
- ·Author frames this as the needed 'trick'
Around this claim
Evidence · 2
Google used 10.9 billion gallons of water in 2025, roughly 30 million gallons per day.Author · Simon Willison's Weblog · conf 60%The Coachella Valley's 120 golf courses each use about 800 acre-feet of water per year, roughly 750,000 gallons per day per course.Author · Simon Willison's Weblog · conf 60%
This moment responds to
provides context → Google's earnings are the most determinative moment of earnings season for whether the market will have a good or bad summer.Josh · The Compoundsupports → Hyperscalers under fire for data center water use should buy up exclusive country clubs, convert the golf courses into public parks, and fund guides and binoculars to turn former members into birdwatchers as a more sustainable hobby.Author · Simon Willison's Weblog