Why then is there a general negative correlation between the cost of potable water and the population of an area in places where freshwater is plentiful? There's a lot of literature on water economics and this pattern usually holds.
Well that's why I cover things at the national, local, and personal level separately. I think if this were any other industry using 2% of a county's water you wouldn't have much of a reaction. In most countries only ~20% of the water is used by households, the rest goes to farms, industry, and commercial buildings
Just as an example, Loudoun County has the most data center concentration in the world by a wide margin, and also has significantly lower water prices than the Virginia average. Seems like they've been able to build out huge new water capacity for data centers and that hasn't raised househould prices, or even kept them low. https://andymasley.substack.com/i/171855599/the-county-with-...