One manufacturing plant uses anywhere between 2 to 4 million gallons of very, very pure water—we call it ultrapure water—per day, and that, on the average, is roughly equivalent to the water usage of a city of maybe 40,000, 50,000 people.
Huh. And I’ve worked in fabs. Of course, the fabs I worked in are long gone, so these newer ones must be more thirsty. Processes aren’t anything like they used to be. (I work in a research group these days, in a design center so I’m afraid I’ve become somewhat removed from things.)