"Data centres must contend with viral worries over water usage, a confected issue. (Modern ones drink up no more than other industries, and much less in total than America's golf courses.)"

There seems to be an assumption that people care about (a) the amount of water used by data centres and whether data centres use less, the same or more water than other industries, and/or (b) whether data centres use use less water than golf courses

If data centres use less then why would anyone care. They might care not about comparative water across industries but about a particular industry, e..g., "AI" data centres, for some other reason(s). Their opinion on that industry's water use, and any other behaviour, is based on their pre-formed opinion of the industry

For example,

If someone does not play golf, then any amount of water used by golf courses may be offensive. It doesn't matter how this amount compares with other industries

If someone does not use "AI" or does not like using "AI", then any amount of water used by "AI" data centres may be offensive. It doesn't matter how the amount compares to other industries

To counter the "viral worries", there are "viral assurances", a confected resolution

But are these assurances effective in addressing the underlying reality that some people don't use "AI" or dislike using "AI" and may have formed opinions about "AI" based on other criteria

The assurances seem "tone deaf" for lack of a better term

For example, the golf course development industry does not generate press releases and sponsor over-the-top PR that proclaims "everyone will play golf in the future", golf will replace human labor, nor is the golf course industry announcing multi-billion dollar transactions daily, ostensibly defeating candidates in local elections through PAC's, lobbying governments against regulation, etc., etc. (This is only a sample of a list of differences is much longer than the list of similarities. The inordinate amount of attention paid to the "AI" industry in the press, endless hype, is not comparable to the amount of attention paid to the golf course industry nor other comment agriculture industry examples)

The comparisons are nonsensical